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MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

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before he was elected Presideot

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MEMORIES OF
THE WHITE HOUSE

THE HOME LIFE OF OUR PRESIDENTS
FROM LINCOLN TO ROOSEVELT

BEING PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS OF

COLONEL W. H. CROOK

SOME TIME BODYGUARD TO LINCOLN, SINCE THEN DISBUBSING

OFFICEB OF THE EXECUTIVES

COMPILED AND EDITED BY

HENRY ROOD

ILLUSTRATED

BOSTON
LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY

1911

^' ■>• X>V '-5 '^

-> ■^^ rs

HARVAhT COLLEGE l.TRAR/

FHOS: lllr :.l?f:"SY OF

MRS. ELLEN HA\ £N ROSS

JUNE 28. 1938

Published, September, 1911.

printers
S. J. Pabkhill a Co., Boston* U. S. A,

NOTE

I beg to express my indebtedness to Mr.
Henry Rood, who first suggested to me these
personal recollections of the family and home
life of the Presidents I have known, while
they resided in the White House. After
months of consultation with me and study of
my diaries, he organized the several chapters
and wrote them. It is hoped that this un-
pretentious volume will give readers a better
understanding than they might otherwise
have had, of Presidents Lincoln, Johnson,
Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Cleveland,
Harrison, McKinley, and Roosevelt, whom I
saw daily, and who, one and all, have treated
me with the utmost kindness and consider-
ation during my forty-six years of continuous
service in the Executive Office.

W. H. Crook.

Thb White HouBSy January, 1911.

Ulysses S. Graot and his family. I^iotographed a short time
before he was elected President

Fronli^itce

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Ulysses S. Grant and his family Frontispiece

Facing Page

President Lincoln and his family 10

Church attended by President Lincoln .... 22

The pulpit in " Lincoln's church " 32

Ford's Theatre, where President Lincoln was shot 40
The house where President Lincoln died ... 40
Mrs. Mary Johnson Stover, Mrs. Andrew John-
son, and Martha Johnson Patterson ... 44

Andrew Johnson 62

Invitation and Order of Dancing of a Juvenile

Soiree given by President Johnson's children 70
Plates of special services ordered by Mrs.
Lincoln and Mrs. Grant for use at the

White House 94

Facsimile of a note from President Grant to

the author 102

Facsimile of a note from Alphonso Taft to

President Hayes 110

Rutherford B. Hayes and Mrs. Hayes .... 116

Scott and Fannie Hayes 128

Rutherford, Birchard, and Webb Hayes. . 132

X LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Facing Page

James A. Garfidd and Mrs. Garfield 146

Chester A. Arthur ., 158

Grover Cleveland and Mrs. Cleveland .... 178

Grand Corridor of the White House 182

The Blue Room 186

The White House on a winter night 194

Benjamin Harrison and Mrs. Harrison . . . ' . 206

The White House 218

William McKinley and Mrs. McKinley .... 242
President McKinley embarking for a Potomac

trip 250

The President's Bedroom and the President's

Dining-room 254

The White House Terrace, looking toward the

Treasury 260

The White House Office Building 272

The Green Room 276

Theodore Roosevelt and Mrs. Roosevelt . . . 280

The Red Room 286

The State Dining-room 292

Mrs. Roosevelt's Colonial Garden at the White

House 296

MEMORIES
OF THE WHITE HOUSE

PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S HOME LIFE IN

THE WHITE HOUSE

It is my purpose in this article, and in other
articles following, to give a series of pictures
of the home life of the White House during
various administrations commencing with that
of President Lincoln.

Countless articles have been written, and
many books, which have given the official
side of life in the White House, if I may so
term it; and while these pictures of public
events have been an important contribution
to history, and a necessary contribution, yet
it seems to me that future generations would
be glad to possess accurate knowledge of
more intimate nature concerning the daily

2 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

home life of the Presidents and their families
— especially the goings and comings, the
duties and recreations, of the women and the
children about which so few now living have
a personal knowledge.

Therefore I have undertaken the pleasant
task of putting down on paper my own recol-
lections of such persons and events ; and what-
ever of value they may possess lies in the
fact that they are not drawn from other
sources, but are first-hand records of what
I have actually seen and heard and made
notes of.

For this reason I will commence by relating
what occurred from the very first minute that
I was ordered to report at the White House
for special duty as personal body-guard to
President Lincoln. The record will advance
step by step in natural order until it draws
to a natural close. I may add that I have
kept sufficient notes during the last forty-six
years to enable me to be sure of my statements ;
and while certain of them may be disputed here
or there, yet the reader may rest assured that
I know whereof I speak.

PRESIDENT LINCOLN 3

After having served in the Union Army, I
had been a member of the pohce force of
Washington for about two years, and was
off duty resting in my home near First and
M streets, N. W., on Thursday, January
5, 1865. About the middle of that day a
fellow member of the Washington police
force arrived there and notified me that I
had been ordered to report at eight o'clock
that night to the President as his personal
body-guard. Up to that time I had never
seen President Lincoln, or any other Presi-
dent; and naturally I was a good deal sur-
prised at this notification, for it meant many
things. Among others, it meant that I had
been chosen to stand between Abraham
Lincoln and danger of all kinds, including
possible assassination, and this gave me
a sense of the deepest satisfaction, for it
showed that my superior officers on the
police force had picked me out as a man
who could be trusted — than which no greater
compliment could possibly have been paid
me.

I was then twenty-six years old, of medium

4 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

height, wiry, lithe, and powerful, having lived
most of my life in the open air; enjoying
perfect health, never knowing what nerves
meant, with clear eyesight, keen sense of
hearing, and ready to go anywhere or do
anything at a moment's notice.

As soon as the officer had delivered his mes-
sage I went into the house and told my wife,
who at once saw the grave responsibiUties that
had been placed on me, and who was greatly
disturbed, not because of any danger or peril
to myself — she knew me well enough to know
that I could take care of myself under
almost any conceivable circumstances — but
because it almost overwhelmed her to think
that in that time of terrible civil war, upon
my shoulders, upon my judgment, upon my
quickness of thought and carefulness, had been
placed the safety, perhaps the life, of the man
who had been raised up by the Lord God
Almighty to preserve the Union as surely as
Moses had been raised up to lead the People
of Israel through their trials and tribulations
until he brought them to the threshold of the
promised land.

PRESIDENT LINCOLN 5

I shall never forget that evening of Thurs-
day, January 5, 1865. Pursuant to orders I
went directly from my home to the White
House, walked up the stairs to the President's
office, and exactly at eight o'clock told the
doorkeeper that I was ordered to report to
the President personally. The doorkeeper at
once threw open the door and I stepped
modestly into the office, where for the first
time I saw Abraham Lincoln. The Presi-
dent was seated on the further side of the
room in a revolving chair in front of his old-
fashioned desk, going over some papers. As
I appeared, quietly, he looked up from his
desk, and I said:

" Mr. President, my name is W. H. Crook.
I have been ordered to report to you for duty
as your personal body-guard."

The President merely responded: " All
right. Crook."

Then he turned to his papers again and I
at once left the office, going downstairs, for
this was the night of the regular Thursday
levee, a reception given by the President and
his official family to all of the public who
wished to attend.

6 MEMORIES OP THE WHITE HOUSE

On reaching the ground floor of the White
House, after leaving the President's office, I
was immediately shown to my position for
the evening by Mr. Thomas F. Pendel, door-
keeper, who had charge of such arrangements.
His orders were for me to stand near the
President during the entire reception, where
I could see every person who approached to
greet him.

At that time the public attending the levee
came into the White House through the main
entrance on the north front. It was imder-
stood, of course, that wraps of all kinds, and
overcoats and shawls must be taken oflF in
the cloak-room — and for very good reason.
The fact must never be lost sight of that
these were war times; the whole country was
in tumult; at any moment an attempt might
be made to assassinate the President, and no
precaution could be overlooked.

Precisely at nine o'clock the President and
Mrs. Lincoln, accompanied by the Cabinet
officers and their wives, left the living-rooms
of the President's household and descended
to the main floor by way of the private stair-

PRESIDENT LINCOLN 7

way at the west end of the White House.
The Marine Band was stationed in an open
space near the official staircase at the left side
of the main entrance. Those attending the
reception passed through this main entrance,
and after leaving coats and wraps in the
cloak-room, passed arpimd into the Red
Room, where many of them gathered and
waited until the doors leading into the Blue
Room should 'be thrown open, for it was in
the Blue Room just beyond these doors that
the President and his official family stood
and received their guests.

I stood in the Red Room in front of those
closed doors for a short time watching the
throng gather there, and was almost dazzled
by the spectacle. In the first place, the ele-
gance of the room itself was something to
which I had never been accustomed, with its
elaborate furnishing and brilliant lighting;
and naturally those formed in line nearest
the closed doors were members of the Diplo-
matic Corps in all their gorgeous uniforms
and decorations, accompanied by the ladies
of their families, who were clad in Parisian

8 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

frocks, and who wore such an abundance of
jewels as I had read of but had never seen
and never expected to see. No wonder that
I, a young man of twenty-six, who had spent
almost all of my life in a little Maryland
village, was temporarily dazzled by those
gentlemen and ladies, and by the officers of
the army and navy who immediately followed
them, these also being in fuU dress uniform
and for the most part accompanied by ladies
likewise most beautifully dressed.

My moment of bewilderment was brief ; for
near the hour of nine the doors were thrown
open, and in the Blue Room a few feet be-
yond the threshold stood Ward H. Lammon,
Marshal of the District of Columbia; just
beyond him was President Lincoln with Mrs.
Lincoln by his side, and next to her the wives
of the Cabinet officers in the receiving line.

I at once took my position just inside the
Blue Room, directly opposite the President,
and turned so as to face every person who
came up to the threshold of that door — for
my business was to see that no suspicious
character should come within reach of Presi-

PRESroENT LINCOLN

dent Lincoln ; and that no person, even though
well known, should cross that doorway with
hands concealed or covered in any manner
whatsoever. It should be remembered that
in guarding a President or any other man
the first consideration is to watch the hands
of those who might do harm. Empty hands
can never accomplish assassination.

As each couple reached Marshal Lammon he
introduced them to the President, who, turn-
ing slightly, introduced them to his wife; and
then they passed down the receiving line bow-
ing to each of the ladies. It was all very
simple, very dignified, and, if I may use the
term, very '' American." President Lincoln
smiled and grasped the hand of each man
presented, with a heartiness and cordiality
which admitted of no doubt as to his sincer-
ity. There he stood, tall, lean, and broad of
shoulders, with a noble countenance; for the
time being the lines of care departed and his
eyes were lighted with the cordiality of a host
who is really glad to meet his guests. And
Mrs. Lincoln, standing next to him, her head
barely reaching to his shoulder, was equally

10 MEMORIES OP THE WHITE HOUSE

cordial, equally gracious, as she greeted those
who were presented. I shall never forget the
picture presented as I first saw her that even-
ing. She wore a low-neck dress and hoop
skirts, which seem so funny to the young
])e()ple of the present generation; encircling
her beautiful plump throat was a necklace of
fih'gree work, and around her head the wreath
of white roses which she invariably wore on
such occasions: a smiling, cordial little lady,
graceful although so plump, bowing to each
of the men and women as the President in-
troduced them, and evidently enjoying every
moment as the evening passed.

As the guests reached the end of the re-
ceiving line they strolled around the Blue
Room, where were scattered members of the
Cabinet and others high in official life, friends
and acquaintances greeting each other and
gathermg in groups for a few minutes, then
drifting on naturally into the Green Room,
and from there into the spacious and magnif-
icent East Room.

All the time that the people were going in
and giving their names to Marshal Lammon,

PRESroENT LINCOLN 11

and passing the President and Mrs. Lincoln
and the ladies of the Cabinet, I remained stand-
ing opposite Lincohi, alert in every nerve of my
being, and with my eyes searching every man
and woman as they approached the marshal.
To those accustomed to the formality of re-
ceptions during recent administrations, that
levee away back in 1865 would have been an
amusing contrast. All sorts and conditions of
people from every section of the country came
up to be presented. Many of the private citi-
zens were in full evening dress, of course, and
among them were men and women occupying
high positions in finance, commerce, profes-
sional life, and in society. But in that long
stream, slowly wending its way to where the
President stood, were also men and women
from the coimtry districts and backwoods,
and from farms in New England and the
Middle States, and from what we now call
the Middle West. It did not seem strange
to me then, although I cannot help but smile
now as I recall the scene, that many of those
humbler folk whom Lincoln thought so much
of, whom he loved so well, and in whom he

n MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

placed implicit faith as the strong bulwark of
the nation — it did not then seem strange that
many of the women wore dresses and bonnets
most unfashionably made, and of anything but
expensive material. Among them were hearty,
strong farmers' wives, arrayed in their best
Sunday-go-to-meeting frocks; some of whom
wore mitts, others gloves fitting none too well.
And many a woman put forth a hand hard-
ened by toil in the service of husbands and
sons who were then at the front — and you
may well believe that no hands were grasped
more cordially by the great President and his
wife than these.

Once in a while a young daughter would
accompany her father and mother, but it made
no difference whether she were a debutante
from Philadelphia, Boston, New York, or a
tired " schoolma'am " from some little red
schoolhouse, or a hard-working farmer's
daughter, — the President and Mrs. Lincoln
were glad to see them one and all.

Then a few came along in that slow-moving
line to whom the President seemed especially
grateful for what he considered the honor of

PRESroENT LINCOLN 18

their presence; and these few, scattered here
and there, were old women, — women with
bowed shoulders and white hair, dim of vision,
feeble of step, whose sons and grandsons were
somewhere south of the Potomac carrying
muskets, or wandering in the swamps, or suf-
fering with gaping woimds in hospitals, or
undergoing terrible misery inseparable from
some of the military prisons in the South.
And such women as I have mentioned partic-
ularly were usually accompanied by husbands,
or brothers, vastly different in appearance
from the well-fed, well-dressed men from the
great cities who formed a majority of those
present.

I wonder what would happen now at a
Presidential reception if a dozen, or twenty,
or thirty men should enter the White House,
as a matter of course wearing negligee shirts,
slouch hats, and cowhide boots into the tops
of which were thrust their trousers! It is a
literal fact, however, that not a few of the
men presented to President and Mrs. Lincoln
at the levee of January 5, 1865, came up to
the door of the Blue Room wearing such

14 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

heavy, clumsy, cowhide boots. They thought
nothing of it. Neither did Mrs. Lincoln, and
least of all the President. For to Lincoln
clothes meant nothing — manhood, truth,
honor, hard work, meant everything.

As might be imagined, imder the circum-
stances, I was nervous and anxious that night,
when for the first time I was called upon to
guard the safety and life of the President.
Occasionally I glanced at him as he stood
only a few feet from me; but for practically
every second of that entire evening I kept
my eyes on one couple after another as they
came forward, noting man after man, and
woman after woman; first being sure that
their hands were in plain view, and that they
held nothing unless it were a fan or a hand-
kerchief — even then being sure that no
weapon of any kind was concealed beneath a
fan or within a handkerchief.

When the last of the several hundred
people present had been introduced by Mar-
shal Lammon, the President and Mrs. Lincoln
quietly withdrew and went upstairs to their
living-rooms. Just before leaving the Blue

PRESroENT LINCOLN 15

Room the President told me to wait for him
downstairs, as he wished to go to the War
Department. It was then after eleven o'clock ;
and at about eleven-thirty, the guests having
all departed from the White House, the Presi-
dent came down again and I accompanied him
to the War Department, going through the
basement of the White House and thence over
to the War Department, where, as usual, he
made his midnight call on Secretary Stanton
to get news from the front. Before long we
returned to the White House and the Presi-
dent retired, I remaining on duty in the hall-
way outside of the room where he was sleep-
ing imtil reheved at eight o'clock in the
morning. Thus ended my first experience as
body-guard to Abraham Lincoln.

The daily life of Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln
usually commenced at eight o'clock, and im-
mediately upon dressing the President would
go into the library, where he would sit in his
favorite chair in the middle of the room and
read a chapter or two of his Bible. I think
I am safe in saying that this was President
Lincoln's invariable custom — at least it was

16 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

such during the time I was on duty with
liim.

At about eight-thirty he would join Mrs.
Lincoln and little Tad in the small, unpreten-
tious dining-room for breakfast, where a plain
but sufficiently hearty meal was served by two
waiters who were white men> and who were
paid personally by the President, who also
paid the wages of the cook and his coachman
and footman. There was little formaUty about
the meal; the President loved to joke with
his wife and son, and for the time being put
aside the cares of his great office and his anx-
iety for the coimtry. As soon as breakfast
was over, the President would go to his office
and commence the ceaseless toil of his busy day.

Mrs. Lincoln was not merely an excellent
housekeeper but a practical one, and she busied
herself about the White House (then called
the Executive Mansion), much as any other
housekeeper would busy herself about her pri-
vate home. She would go from room to
room, seeing that the work was satisfactorily
done, looking after the innumerable small
details, especially those which had to do

PRESroENT LINCOLN 17

with the comfort of her husband and her
little son.

Then, as a general thing, Mrs. Lincoln would
attend to her personal correspondence in her
own boudoir, where she had a desk; after-
wards, Ukely as not, going down to the old
conservatory, long since supplanted, which was
a favorite resort for her. She loved flowgrs
and understood them and knew their needs;
and was able to give the one gardener directions
as to what she wanted done and also how to
do it. Many times have I seen her looking at
some favorite flower as if she were helping it to
give forth its bloom and fragrance. Some-
times she would say to me with real enthusiasm :

" Crook, look at this beautiful bud 1 Soon
it will be in full bloom."

Because of her love of flowers and her
knowledge of plant hfe, the old conservatory
during President Lincoln's administration was
a model of its kind.

Every now and then during the day, if
Mrs. Lincoln happened to think of something
she wished to tell her husband, she did not hesi-
tate to go into his office as she would have gone

18 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

unhesitatingly into his law office in Springfield.
For first of all Abraham Lincoln was her hus-
band; she was his helpmate and conu*ade, and
the fact that he was a world figure, occupied
with some of the gravest problems that have
ever affected mankind, did not overwhelm and
blot out the fact that he was her husband. I do
not wish to be misunderstood by any who might
think that Mrs. Lincoln would intrude upon the
President while he was engaged in his office,
for she was very careful never to interrupt any
of the countless conferences with officials of
the government, or with representatives of for-
eign governments, or with humble citizens in
private life who constantly called upon Presi-
dent Lincoln. She was careful, as became a
woman of intelligence and common sense, not
thus to interfere; but when the President was
not occupied with such matters, she often would
come into his office and ask him a question about
some matter of common interest — to find out
if he had an engagement for that afternoon or
evening, whether he could go to the theater,
or take a drive; or to speak with him about
something or other that little Tad wished to

PRESroENT LINCOLN 19

do. Looking at their lives in this aspect, it was
all very beautiful and homelike.

A great many people have had the idea that
Mrs. Lincoln did not realize, at the time, the
gravity of her husband's position, and what
an extraordinary influence he wielded in the
world; and certainly many have thought that
she was not as solicitous for his comfort and
his happiness as she might have been. But
I wish to go on record as saying that during
the time I was on duty, Mrs. Lincoln looked
after her husband's welfare with the utmost
consideration. She was of a cheerful, lively
temperament; she had a sense of humor that
enabled her to appreciate the President's droll
stories and homely wit; and certainly in this
regard she aided him to ease what was an
almost insupportable burden during the dark-
est days of the war. People have thought Mrs.
Lincoln frivolous. She was not. She knew, for
example, what the President liked to eat and
what was good for him to eat, and she saw
that he had it. When the weather was cold
she made it her business to see that the Presi-
dent did not go outdoors imless he had about

20 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

his shoulders a warm gray shawl so that he
would not catch cold and possibly incur dan-
gerous illness. Of course there must be two
sides to the life of any President — one being
that of public life and affairs concerning which
the world knows more or less ; and in this Mrs.
Lincoln did not attempt to exert an influence,
as history records on the part of many women
in the courts of Europe during days gone by.
Mr. Lincoln ate heartily but not to excess ; he
was particularly fond of certain things, espe-
cially apples, and Mrs. Lincoln always had a
sufficiency of this fruit chosen carefully and
ready at hand. The President never used to-
bacco as far as I know, and I never knew him
to drink wine or other alcoholic beverages, not
even at the state dinners where, of course,
wines were provided for those who wished
them. I am quite sure that neither he nor
Mrs. Lincoln worried about the possibility of
the President being assassinated. Certainly
if Mrs. Lincoln was worried about such an
occurrence she did not show it, and the Presi-
dent exercised the calm philosophy of a stoic
in this particular. He believed that if any-

PRESIDENT LINCOLN 21

body was bad enough to kill him there was
nothing on earth to prevent it.

Mrs. Lincoln occasionally had old friends
from Illinois, and elsewhere, visiting her in the
White House; but there was very little of so-
cial gayety then as compared with that obtain-
ing imder later administrations and under the
administrations of earlier Presidents, when, for
instance, " Dolly " Madison entertained so bril-
liantly.

Again I remind my readers of the fact that
during Lincoln's administration the country
was torn apart with the most terrible warfare ;
death was on every hand, the black badge of
mourning was seen on every side; and those
connected with the White House, where cen-
tered the entire nervous system of the nation,
* felt the strain of conflict, the grief and sorrow,
so poignantly and so constantly that it is no
wonder gayety and Ughtness of spirit were ab-
sent for the most part. Then again, the Presi-
dent's second son, Willie Lincoln, had died only
two years previous, and both President and
Mrs. Lincoln imquestionably felt this loss while
I was acting as body-guard. Robert Lincoln,

22 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

the eldest of the three sons, then a young man,
was a captain serving on Grant's staff, and
came only occasionally to the White House.

From some cause an unusual impediment in
little Tad Lincoln's speech made it extremely
difficult for him to pronounce certain words,
and really impossible for him to emmciate
clearly a name like Smith, for instance. Per-
haps it was partly owing to this that he did
not attend a school while living in the White
House. At any rate he had a tutor, a fine,
scholarly Scotchman named Williamson, who
came everj" morning to teach the boy his lessons.
All the rest of the time Tad spent in play-
ing, in reading, and investigating — when
he was not with his father. ^Vhenever it was
possible, JNIr. Lincoln had the little fellow
with him.

I verily believe that this child's prescience
and feeling had greater influence with the Pres-
ident than the arguments of the latter's entire
administration. Lincoln lived for one thing, and
for one thing only, — to help his countrymen
as a whole, regardless of sections, North, East,
South, or West, to do what was right; to seek

PRESroENT LINCOLN 28

and follow the course which would be kindest,
wisest, most helpful in the highest sense. Pro-
foundly reverent himself, he accepted as literal
fact the statement that the surest way to bring
about the Kingdom of Heaven on earth — to
bring about conditions of peace, and love, and
sympathy between the great forces which had
torn his country apart — was for us all to
believe in goodness and truth with the simple,
imquestioning faith of the little child. Perhaps
it was his logical carrying out of this reasoning
that led him to gain renewed strength from con-
stant association with his little son. Certain it
is that Abraham Lincoln was wholly wrapped
up in the boy.

As I remember him best, Tad was a bright
lad of nine or ten years. To some he seemed
to be unusually inquisitive; but as I now look
back, I think this was an inevitable result of his
inherited intellect, as well as of his share of
his father's strong character. Tad wanted to
know all about everything. It did n't matter
much what was the subject, to whatever his
attention was called, on whatever his fancy
alighted — to that he sprang, eagerly and in-

84 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

stantly, and he wanted to master it in every
detail of being, cause, and effect.

Like the great President, Tad had a heart
like a woman's. If he differed from other boys
in any one thing to a marked degree, it was
in that fact. Most boys, by nature, I sup-
pose, are inherently cruel — to each other,
to brothers or sisters, to dogs or cats, as we
all know. Tad Lincoln never was cruel to
any living creature. It may have been this
fundamental trait in his childish character that
formed the basis of that wonderful bond of
sympathy and understanding which certainly
existed between his father and himself.

I hope I am not giving the impression that
Tad was what is termed colloquially a " prig,"
or anything approaching it. Excepting for his
tenderness of heart, and his endowment with an
extraordinary intellect, he differed in nowise
from the average bright, energetic, American
lad. While he lived in the White House the
military side of life was uppermost in every
one's mind, and naturally Tad was interested
in soldiers. To be a soldier was the height of
his ambition, and he had a regulation army

PRESIDENT LINCOLN 95

lieutenant's uniform, with epaulettes and all
the other accessories, in which he often would
dress up and strut around in high feather.
Like all children he was very fond of private
theatricals, and delighted in " acting plays."
So a room in the White House was fitted up
for him as a miniature theatre, and there he
spent many of the happiest hours of his life.

But as I look back over nearly half a century,
I see him most plainly and oftenest seated
in a little wagon, driving a pair of goats
around the White House grounds. Some-
times the goats would trot along as directed,
and sometimes they would decline to move,
or move in the wrong direction, or try to move
in two directions at once, as goats will. But
Tad didn't mind much. He would simply
wait until the steeds were ready to go where
he wished, and then they would start on.

When I accompanied Mr. Lincoln to Peters-
burg, during his memorable visit to the front,
little Tad went with us, and slept in my state-
room aboard the steamer, so I could be sure
no harm came to him. I doubt if I ever felt
greater responsibility in guarding the Presi-

26 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

dent himself than I felt when he placed his
boy's hand in mine, and said I was to keep
him from danger.

The death of his father almost broke Tad's
heart — 1 say this Uterally — and not so very
long afterward he died, while in Europe with
his mother.

I am sure that all those who came in close
contact with the President and Mrs. Lincoln
would agree in saying that they were a happy
couple, and that they led a peaceful, quiet,
happy hfe, imderstanding each other, sympa-
thizing with each other, doing their best to
influence Robert for his own' good, and to
bring up little Tad so that he should lead a life
truly successful. I never knew President Lin-
coln to lose his temper on any occasion, al-
though I have been present when I could only
wonder how he could sit still in dignified calm-
ness when any other man under equal con-
ditions would have risen up in righteous wrath,
and most men would have exerted physical
violence; this, of course, when some reckless
man would meet him face to face and denounce
his policies or question his motives. As for

PRESIDENT LINCOLN 87

the domestic relations between the President
and Mrs. Lineohi, I do not recall ever hearing
or seeing a discussion between them.

At that time, it must be remembered, any-
one who wished to talk with Lincoln could
walk up to his office, and after speaking with
the doorkeeper go in and meet him. Except-
ing when engaged with others. President Lin-
coln seldom if ever declined to receive any man
or woman who came to the White House
to see him. When I remember the numbers
of people who came there on all conceivable
errands, for all imaginable purposes, it seems
surprising that he could get through with his
work and then grant them interviews. But
Lincoln had a most effective way of dismissing
those who trespassed upon his time, which be-
longed not to himself but to the nation. Let
me give an illustration of what I mean.

Some morning an up-state politician would
come bustling into the White House and want
to see the President, not for any real reason,
but merely that he might go back to his
constituents and tell how he was received
by the President, and what he said to the

28 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE
President, and what the President said to him,

Lincoln would size up such a man in a half
a minute, and he could get rid of him in another
half minute, not brusquely, not by waving
him aside, not by suggesting that he was too
busy to be seen at that particular time; on
the contrary, before the up-state politician
would have a chance to tell what he thought of
the President's policies Mr. Lincoln would
start in on a droll story, and when he finished
the politician would be laughing so heartily he
would forget all about what he was going to
tell the President. Then his hand would be
grasped by the President, who would at once
turn to his desk, and the politician would find
himself leaving the White House more than
satisfied with his call, which had lasted two
minutes instead of two hours as he had ex-
pected.

So great was the pressure on the Presi-
ident's time and thought that he had little
chance for pleasure and recreation, ex-
cept for an occasional horseback ride out to
the Soldiers' Home. He enjoyed moderately

PRESIDENT LINCOLN 29

a really good theatrical performance by com-
petent actors, but not with the enthusiasm
shown by Mrs. Lincoln, who was very fond
indeed of the drama. When the President
and his wife went to the theater, they would
step into a carriage at the White House and
drive directly to their destination, just as any
other gentleman and lady in private life would
do. On arriving in front of the playhouse
Burke, the big, burly Irish coachman, would
pull up his horses, and the footman, Charley
Forbes, would swing down to the sidewalk and
open the door of the carriage, whereupon Mrs.
Lincoln and the President would step out„
being met at once by a body-guard whose busi-
ness it was to be on hand when they arrived.
Without any ostentation or display what-
ever the President and Mrs. Lincoln, followed
by the body-guard, and led by an usher, would
quietly walk into the box which had been re-
served for them, and as they did so the audience
would rise and stand in silence until the Presi-
dent acknowledged this mark of respect with
a dignified bow, in which recognition Mrs.
Lincoln joined by a graceful inclination of

80 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

her head. Then they would seat themselves
in the box and the audience would seat itself
throughout the house. During the progress
of the play the attention of the audience was
centered on the stage and not upon the Presi-
dent and his wife, or any guests whom they
might have with them in the box; for Lincoln
was so near to the people of his beloved coun-
try that they felt no desire to stare at him
from motives of curiosity. At the conclusion
of the play, Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln and their
guard would retire from the box, and quietly
leave the theater. Such of the audience as
were in the aisles simply made way for them.
They would then step into their carriage,
Forbes would close the door and regain his
seat beside Burke, who would speak to his
horses and away the carriage would roll
toward the White House as a score of other
carriages were rolling in other directions from
the theater.

Mr. Lincoln, of course, never wore full even-
ing dress; nor any decoration or insignia
whatever to distinguish himself from the mil-
lions of his countrymen with whom he stood

PRESIDENT LINCOLN 31

on a plane of equality; for as much as he be-
lieved that he was Uving and breathing he be-
lieved that God had created all men to be
equal, and that any difference such as creates
caste, or even exclusive circles of society, was
purely artificial and, therefore, in his opinion,
ignoble.

Mrs. Lincoln, when she attended the theater,
usually wore a gown cut low in the neck, but
did hot wear full dress excepting at the opera.
Neither she nor the President was a musician,
but both were fond of listening to music. I
do not think that Mrs. Lincoln was in any
sense a woman of strong literary tastes, but
she read the newspapers carefully and kept
mformed not merely of the great war then in
progress but of changing political conditions,
and of important events throughout the world.
Those who have thought her a woman of almost
childish gayety of temperament were vastly
mistaken in underestimating this side of her
character. She kept well informed on many
subjects, and had very clear and strong ideas
concerning them.

Mrs. Lincoln and the President usually at-

S2 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

tended the morning service in Dr. Gurley's
church, which still stands on New York
Avenue near the corner of Fourteenth Street,
Sometimes they would drive there, but fre-
quently they would walk, accompanied by a
guard. They were always punctual in atten-
dance, and you may be sure that Dr. Gurley
never had to delay the opening of his service
on their account. They would go to church
with the simplicity and dignity and quietness
of manner that characterized the President's
whole life. Out of respect for the great oflSce
which he occupied, those who were in the
church when the President arrived would rise
from their seats and remain standing until
he and Mrs. Lincoln had passed down to the
pew reserved for their use, well forward and
near the pulpit. At the close of the service
those constituting the congregation would
step out of their pews into the aisles without
waiting for the President of the United States
to take precedence. Lincoln and his wife
would slowly walk along, surrounded by the
others, exchanging a few words and shaking
hands with those they knew or with any who

H f • ^ • -^^ I

Th« pulpit Id " Lincola's Church," from the pew he occupied

PRESIDENT LINCOLN 88

wished to speak to them. On reaching the
doors of the church, the President and Mrs,
LincoLi would go homeward as they had
come, quietly and reverently. Occasionally
little Tad accompanied his father and mother
to church, but not often.

During the time that I was serving as
personal body-guard to Lincoln, he and Mrs.
Lincoln usually dined at seven o'clock in the
evening — a leisurely meal, well cooked, well
chosen, with special reference to the Presi-
dent's dislike of elaborate dishes and '' frills "
in general. In those days the White House
had no regularly employed housekeeper, such
as has been necessary during recent years,
owing to the fact that because of the natural
evolution of social life in this country, the
President's wife, whoever she may be, now is
called upon to give much of her time, her
strength, and thought to entertaining, —
largely semi-official in nature, — which was
unknown in Lincoln's time. I have no doubt
that some of the ladies who have graced the
Executive Mansion during the last forty
years may have been Mrs. Lincoln's equal

34 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

as practical housekeepers ; but I am sure that
none of them was her superior. She had a
steward to attend to special duties which
would naturally fall to such a person, but
she oversaw and directed everything herself.
She knew just what kinds of food should be
provided, what cuts of various meats were
the best, how vegetables should be prepared,
how bread should be made. And what is
more, her cook, and her waiters, and her few
other servants, knew that she knew. In con-
sequence, the domestic affairs of the Execu-
tive Mansion ran along their way smoothly
and serenely and most comfortably.

After dinner, at about eight o'clock, the
President would rise from the table and go
at once across to the War Department to
get the latest news from the front, except-
ing on Thursday evenings, when he waited
until the regular levee had been held. If I
happened to be on night duty I accompanied
him, of course, and while we were absent for
an hour or two hours, Mrs. Lincoln, after
seeing that Tad was safe and soundly asleep
in his bed, would go into the " living-room,"

PRESroENT LINCOLN 86

as the Red Room was then called. Some-
times she would spend the evening in read-
ing the newspapers of various cities until the
President returned; but she was not fond
of embroidering, or of other work with the
needle.

Generally, however, the wives of some
of the Cabinet Officers would drive to the
Executive Mansion to spend an informal
evening. Occasionally these ladies would be
accompanied by their husbands, but not al-
ways, by any means. For, let me repeat
again, those were war times; war, with its
terrible news of crushing defeat, of death,
injury, starvation; of discontent with the
Administration in many quarters; of appre-
hension regarding the possible action of cer-
tain foreign powers.

Neither the President, nor the men chosen
as his Cabinet advisers, could call an hour
their own in advance of its coming. Day
and night, night and day, they were carry-
ing a burden of anxiety almost of crushing
weight. As a result, the Cabinet members
did not often go with their wives for an in-

86 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

formal evening in the old living-room. The
ladies, however, seemed to enjoy meeting
each other thus, and chatted about a thousand
things.

In cold weather there was usually a com-
fortable blaze in the big fireplace, around
which they would gather. But while a fine
piano stood ready at hand, I do not remem-
ber having heard anj- music, vocal or instru-
mental, on such occasions. At the time I
wondered why the ladies did not play or
sing; but afterwards I understood that
music, with its gayety and lightness, is not
born of periods of grief, and mourning, and
dread. No, there was nothing approaching
hilarity in the White House in those days;
all was sadness, for the President and his
official familv and their wives knew better
than any of the public what the coimtry was
passing tlirough, and felt accordingly. . . .

I will amend that slightly. There was no
hilaritj'^ excepting where Tad was concerned.
Time and time again have I seen Tad sit-
ting on his father's shoulders, while Presi-
dent Lincoln galloped up and down the long

PRESIDENT LINCOLN 37

corridor outside their private apartments, the
boy laughing and shouting with glee, and
the great, grave President, by sheer will-power,
resolutely throwing aside the burdens of his
office, in order that his httle son might share
the joys that are childhood's heritage. . . .

No refreshments were served during the in-
formal evenings spent with Mrs. Lincoln, nor,
indeed, were refreshments served at the Thurs-
day evening levees. When ten o'clock came,
or perhaps eleven, the ladies would drive home
alone, unless their husbands were able to come
for them, which was sometimes the case.

Then Mrs. Lincoln would sit down alone,
and quietly wait until her husband should re-
turn from the War Department. At that time
there were no telegraph wires in the Executive
Mansion, and the President's habit was to go
to the War Building to obtain news at first
hand, and to talk over developments with the
Secretary of War. Lincoln usually was able
to return to his wife, waiting in the living-
room for him, by eleven o'clock or a little later,
and he would tell her the news from the front.
They would discuss the battles, the retreats.

88 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

the victories, the defeats, — all the main de-
velopments of the day and evening, — with
calm thoughtfulness, and although they gen-
erally finished this concluding part of their
daily program shortly after midnight, yet
sometimes it was quite late when they could
do so and retire.

As he went upstairs and entered his own
room, Lincohi's last act was to turn to the
guard on duty in the corridor, and wish him
good-night. Then he would enter his room,
and close the door, and I — if it were my
turn to stand guard — would settle down for
eight hours of duty.

My chair stood in the corridor, within easy
reach of the door opening into the Presi-
dent's room, and so situated that I could see
every inch of the whole length of the corri-
dor, which was so lighted that no shadows
could even partly conceal any one who might
try to slip through it. During most of the
night I would rest comfortably in the chair,
constantly looking this way and that, listen-
ing intently for any unusual noise. Every
once in a while, however, I would rise and

PRESroENT LINCOLN 89

quietlj pace up and down to obtain rest of
position. I never read a book or a news-
paper, of course, for fear that my attention
might become fixed so closely on the printed
page that I might not hear or see the ap-
proach of assassins whom I always expected
at any moment. Needless to say, I never
resorted to any of the common means for
keeping awake during those solitary vigils.
The responsibiUty of guarding Lincoln was
so great that dozing, or even drowsiness, was
unthinkable. And when relieved by the day-
guard, at eight o'clock in the morning, I was
always as fresh and wide awake as when I
had gone on duty twelve hours previous.

The only time that President Lincoln failed
to say good-night to me — when we parted
after having been together for hours — was
on the evening shortly before he started for
Ford's Theater, where he was murdered. As
I mentioned on another occasion, some years
ago, Mr. Lincoln had told me that afternoon
of a dream he had had for three successive
nights, concerning his impending assassina-
tion. Of course, the constant dread of such

40 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

a calamity made me somewhat nervous, and
I almost begged him to remain in the Exec-
utive Mansion that night, and not to go to
the theater. But he would not disappoint
Mrs. Lincoln and others who were to be
present. Then I urged that he allow me to
stay on duty and accompany him; but he
would not hear of this, either.

" No, Crook," he said, kindly but firmly,
" you have had a long, hard day's work al-
ready, and must go home to sleep and rest.
I cannot afford to have you get all tired out
and exhausted."

It was then that he neglected, for the first
and only time, to say good-night to me. In-
stead, he turned, with his kind, grave face,
and said: " Good-bye, Crook," and went into
his room.

I thought of it at the moment; and a few
hours later, when the awful news flashed
over Washington that he had been shot, his
last words were so burned into my memory
that they never have been forgotten, and
never can be forgotten.

PRESIDENT LINCOLN 41

Although I have ah^eady stated the fact in
print, I wish to repeat it here, — that when
Mr. and Mrs. Lincohi and their party sat
down in their box at Ford's Theater that
fateful night, the guard who was acting as
my substitute took his position at the rear
of the box, close to an entrance leading into
the box from the dress-circle of the theater.
His orders were to stand there, fully armed,
and to permit no unauthorized person to
pass into the box. His orders were to stand
there and protect the President at all hazards.

From the spot where he was thus stationed,
this guard could not see the stage or the
actors; but he could hear the words the ac-
tors spoke, and he became so interested in
them that, incredible as it may seem, he
quietly deserted his post of duty, and walk-
ing down the dimly-lighted side aisle, delib-
erately took a seat in the last row of the
dress-circle.

It was while the President was thus abso-
lutely unprotected through this guard's amaz-
ing recklessness — to use no stronger words
— that Booth rushed through the entrance

4^ MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

to the box, just deserted by the guard, and
accompUshed his foul deed.

Realization of liis part in the assassination
so preyed upon the mind and spirit of the
guard that he finally died as a result of it.

THE HOME LIFE OF PRESIDENT

JOHNSON

President Johnson's home life in the White
House did not commence until some time after
Mrs. Lincoln had left there, in April, 1865,
about three weeks after President Lincoln
had been assassinated. Mr. Johnson was
sworn in as President at his rooms in the
Kirkwood House by Chief Justice Chase, and
for a short time thereafter transacted his
official business in an office in the Treasury
Department. Before long he took up his
quarters in the White House, where his
home life began with the arrival of his whole
family in August, 1865. As a general thing,
when an incoming President arrives with his
family at the White House, he finds that
preparations for a hearty welcome and a cor-
dial one have been made by the family of the

44 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

outgoing President; but there were none to
welcome President Johnson's family except
the servants and employees of the household.

The day on which they arrived I was act-
ing as a special officer at the White House,
where, with others, I had been expecting
them hour by hour. Everything possible for
the comfort of the new President's family had
been made ready by the White House staff,
under the supervision of Steward Stackpole;
and while all the material comforts had been
looked after yet there was lacking that little
thrill of human sympathy that can only come
through cordial handclasp and face of smil-
ing welcome on the part of one woman
toward another. It was at about noon of
that August day when several carriages filled
with ladies and gentlemen and children drew
up at the White House, and those within
stepped out and entered the great building.
President Johnson was in his office at the time,
and on being informed that the party had ar-
rived he went to meet them.

It included Mrs. Johnson; her son. Colonel
Robert Johnson, then a man of thirty or

HOME LIFE OF PRESIDENT JOHNSON 45

thirty-five; a younger son, Andrew Johnson,
Junior, a lad of twelve or fourteen; two
married daughters — Mrs. Stover, whose
husband was dead; a second daughter, Mrs.
Patterson, and her husband. Senator Patter-
son, of Tennessee; together with five grand-
children — Mary Belle Patterson, Andrew J.
Patterson, Sarah Stover, LiUie Stover, and
Andrew J. Stover.

Mrs. Johnson, feeble from a long illness,
was helped out of her carriage. Tom Pendel,
the old doorkeeper, opened the doors, and
the entire party went into the White House,
being welcomed there by the servants and
the other employees, and going first into the
parlors, where they sat down to rest for a
while. With the exception of the President,
none of those in the party was at all familiar
.with the Executive Mansion, excepting Mrs.
Patterson, who had been educated in George-
town as a girl and had been a frequent vis-
itor at the White House during the Polk
administration. I remember the whole scene
as clearly as if it were yesterday.

Mrs. Johnson was a small woman, and, a vie-

46 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

tim of old-fashioned " consumption " for a long
time, her weakness and emaciation made her
seem even smaller still. She walked slowly,
and while her face was lighted up with in-
terest, yet she betrayed no such enthusiasm
as might have been expected of almost any
woman under the same circumstances. Mrs.
Stover and Mrs. Patterson were, on the other
hand, eager to begin their new life, and the
six children were as excited as could be, their
eyes bright and their cheeks flushed with an-
ticipation of events which they could hardly
imagine.

After resting quietly in the parlors for a
time the entire party went upstairs to. select
their living-rooms. The President's wife, of
course, made her personal choice first of all;
and, instead of picking out for her own use
one of the great, spacious bedrooms, she
selected one of the smallest rooms, which was
situated in the northwest corner of the White
House.

In those days nearly all the furniture was
of mahogany, most of it the same furniture
that had been used by the Lincoln adminis-

HOME LIFE OF PRESmENT JOHNSON 47

tration. Under a special appropriation of
thirty thousand dollars the President's living-
rooms and other portions of the Executive
Mansion were redecorated in accordance with
Mrs. Patterson's ideas, and some parts, such as
the East Room and the Green Room, were
refurnished. WhiljB the ladies of the house-
hold were surveying and selecting their rooms,
trunks and other personal baggage arrived in
wagons, and the Johnson family really com-
menced its home life in the White House.

Owing to the fact that the President's
wife was an invalid, her daughter, Mrs. Pat-
terson, at once assumed charge of everything.
She qpnsulted with her mother and was ably
assisted by her sister, Mrs. Stover; but she
looked after everything in a general way
and gave directions for carrying out all de-
tails connected with the family life.

In Lincoln's time there were few gathered
aroimd the table in the private dining-room,
only the President and Mrs. Lincoln and little
Tad; but now all was changed. At every
meal that private dining-room was the scene
of liveliness and conversation, for when two

48 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

or three men and two ladies and six children
come together aromid one long table at meal-
times, liveliness is to be expected. As dur-
ing Lincoln's administration, breakfast was
served not long after eight o'clock in the
morning, and all were, as a general thing, on
hand except Mrs. Johnson, who seldom ap-
peared for the morning meal. Perhaps there
was a trifle more ceremony than in Lincoln's
time, but when breakfast was over Mr. John-
son would always remain for a little while,
talking with his sons and his daughters and
his grandchildren and his son-in-law. Senator
Patterson, and then would invariably spend
a short time chatting with his wife before
proceeding to his office for the transaction of
business.

Beginning with the first morning after they
arrived, there was an instant change in the
very atmosphere of the Executive Mansion,
as could hardly have been otherwise when
one remembers that into it had come six
hearty, healthy children, full of fun and
laughter, the eldest being a boy not over
fourteen. The last one alluded to, Andrew

HOME LIFE OF PRESIDENT JOHNSON 49

Johnson, Junior, attended one of the public
schools in Washington; and those of the
grandchildren who were old enough studied
under the direction of a teacher who visited
the White House every morning, although
this part of their education was carefully
supervised by their mothers. Luncheon was
served at one o'clock and dinner at seven.

Mrs. Johnson usually spent most of her
time on the floor on which were the living-
rooms. The greater part of each day she
remained in her own room, seated in a little
rocking-chair which she found most comfort-
able, busying herself with needlework and
reading. She was a woman of strong, force-
ful character and of decided literary tastes.
She did not care especially for works of fic-
tion, and most of the books she read were of
a serious nature. It will be remembered that
while her husband had taught himself to
read, she actually had taught him to write
after they were married, and it was some
years later — when he was a member of the
House of Representatives — that he first was
able to use a pen with ease and fluency.

50 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

Despite her afflictions Mrs. Johnson was a
woman of far more than usual power — but
hers was the power of the spirit and the
mind, rather than of the body. She was quiet
and cahn, but absolutely inflexible when it
came to a matter of principle, and through-
out her husband's life she exercised a very
great influence upon him.

It has often been said that the ideal mar-
riage is that wherein two individual souls and
minds are merged as one. The nearest ap-
l)roach to such a state that I have ever seen
and known was in the case of Andrew John-
son and his wife. And yet they were as
unlike each other temperamentally as it was
possible for two human beings to be.

From the time his father died Andrew John-
son made an unceasing fight throughout a
stormy life. At the age of ten years, as a little
boy, he was apprenticed to a tailor, and even
then began his unending struggle. Being en-
dowed with a strong personality and a resolute
will, possessing confidence in his own ability to
battle with the world, Johnson had fought
his way upward, step by step. A man of

HOME LIFE OP PRESIDENT JOHNSON 51

intensely strong convictions, it was impossible
to move him when he believed that his posi-
tion was the right position, and he would
maintain it with a vehemence that at times
almost reached the point of violence. Fear-
less of everything and of everybody, he would
stand his ground, if necessary, against the
whole world. It will be remembered, as
Senator O. P. Morton, of Indiana, said:
" Andrew Johnson was the only member of
Congress from the South who resisted the
wave of secession that was then sweeping
over the South, and stood faithful to the
Union.''

And a man who represented a Southern
Congressional district and who faced, single-
handed and alone, the storm of secession that
swept over his State, could not have been
other than a man of indomitable purpose.
Yet, in the marrow of his heart, in the core
of his judgment, he turned to and leaned
upon and was constantly influenced by a frail
little woman, so weak that she had to have
breakfast in her room, so feeble that she
spent most of her time in her little rocking-

62 MEMORIES OP THE WHITE HOUSE

chair; yet, withal, a woman whose soul was
so pure, whose heart was so tender, that she
possessed a vision truer and sounder and
keener than that of her rugged, powerful
husband who had spent his whole life in the
heat of conflict with the great world — a
conflict of which she knew little from her
own experience.

Though the home life of President John-
son's family was largely regulated by Mrs.
Patterson, nevertheless the mainspring of the
whole establishment was Mrs. Johnson her-
self. She cared little for outward show, as
can be understood by what has been said
already; and even before her husband's
troublous days came — during impeachment
proceedings — I am quite sure that she
would have much preferred to go back to
their Tennessee home and there live in such
quietude as her husband's temperament would
permit; in fact, she told me so, more than
once.

" Crook," she would say, " it 's all very
well for those who like it — but I do not like
this public life at all. I often wish the time

HOME LIFE OP PRESIDENT JOHNSON 53

would come when we could return to where
I feel we best belong."

Yes, President Johnson's wife was essen-
tially a motherly old lady, in all her thoughts,
in all her actions, in all her wishes; a sweet,
lovable woman who had spent her days look-
ing after her husband and her children and
who had taken to her heart and into her very
soul the five grandchildren. If anything
made her at all resigned to residing in the
White House it was because there she could
have with her, every day, her entire family.

Of course, she appreciated to the full the
exalted position her husband occupied by
virtue of his office; perhaps, because her in-
tellectual powers were so wide, she may even
have understood this better than he. But
first and foremost, as I have tried to indicate,
she was a motherly, dear old lady, deeply
interested in her husband's career, desirous
for her children's welfare, and, as is gener-
ally the case with a grandmother, positively
anxious that right ideas of thought and con-
duct should be instilled in her grandchildren.

Although the President's wife never told me

54 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

so, in so many words, yet I think that one
of her keenest regrets in connection with liv-
ing in the White House was that she could n't
slip down into the kitchen whenever she felt
like it, and bake a batch of ginger cookies
for the little folks. Despite her illness, Mrs.
Johnson was always cheerful, and always
loved to have the grandchildren with her,
especially Belle Patterson, who was a really
beautiful child. Whenever she was able to
see friends who called she did so, but as a
general thing she saw only a very few
persons.

Mrs. Patterson attended to practically all her
mother's correspondence, excepting that which
was handled in the Executive Office. This, by
the way, was very heavy at times. The wife of
every President receives a great many letters
from people who are utter strangers, begging
her to use her influence with her husband to
secure appointments to minor offices, or other
favors. Of course the President's wife seldom
sees these appeals. They are opened by her
secretary, who then transmits them to the
Executive Office, as they are in the nature of

HOME LIFE OF PRESIDENT JOHNSON 55

official business. At the time of President
Johnson's administration Mrs. Patterson, in
addition to all her other duties, reheved her
mother of such annoyances.

After having breakfast in her room, Mrs.
Johnson usually would look through the living
quarters of the President's family, stopping
here or there to rest, and sometimes calling upon
her husband in his office if she wanted to see him
about anything. In those days, as most of us
remember who are beyond middle age, suffer-
ers from consumption were kept indoors most
of the time, instead of being urged to live in
the open air day and night as at present. The
grandchildren, as soon as their lessons were
over, would make a bee line for her little room,
where the dear old lady would be awaiting them,
one eye on the stockings she was darning or the
mittens she was knitting, the other eye on the
clock, and both ears keyed in anticipation of
hearing light footsteps dancing along the corri-
dor toward her room. To the children of Mrs.
Patterson and Mrs. Stover there was nobody
on earth like " Grandpa " and " Grandma,"
and of course they were too young to under-

66 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

stand the full dignity and importance of the
President's position. They were healthy,
hearty, romping yomigsters, full of fun and
mischief ; but here I wish to say that in all my
own long life I have never seen anything ap-
proaching the good feeling which existed be-
tween the two sets of children. It is a literal
fact that while they were in the White House
they never had any disputes. This may sound
extraordinary — it is extraordinary — but it
is true.

I often wondered in those days why it was, or
how it was, that the five grandchildren could get
along so happily and without dispute or dis-
cussion. But when I grew older and learned
something of the influences that unconsciously
affect human nature deeply and permanently,
I became convinced that the Stover and the
Patterson boys and girls Uved so happily and
joyously simply because of their beloved
Grandma.

In truth she never disputed, never quar-
reled with any one, because she was so calm
and peaceful; and because she had been so
throughout all her long life, during which her

HOME LIFE OF PRESIDENT JOHNSON 67

own children had grown up and had been influ-
enced by her, they, in turn, had passed on this
happy, peaceful habit of life to their children,
to whom I am referring particularly. If the
grandchildren wanted to go into the President's
office at any time they went right along, with-
out asking permission, and they were always
welcome there. Many a time have I known the
President to be receiving visitors, when two or
three or four or five youngsters would come
skipping through the corridor and bob into the
office without ceremony; and " Grandpa " was
always glad to see them and to make much of
them. Moreover, he expected his visitors of
the moment to make much of them also.

This is one side of President Johnson's char-
acter, by the way, that may not generally be
understood. Although his life of fighting for
a career, for principles that made a career pos-
sible, had developed him into a stem, forbid-
ding, uncompromising man, yet in private life
Mr. Johnson was rather a pleasant man to be
associated with. When he was with his chil-
dren or his grandchildren he relaxed, and re-
lapsed into what must have been his endowment

58 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

by nature — a genial, happy man for the hour
— until official duties called him away from his
family circle.

For his invalid wife Mr. Johnson mani-
fested in many ways his real and abiding love.
He was tender, considerate, anxious about her
as few understood at the time ; and Mrs. John-
son more than returned such feeling. She was,
of course, very proud of him, for she knew how
much harder he had been obliged to fight for
eminence than if he had been bom under other
circumstances, and because he had won with
such a handicap of poverty and lack of educa-
tion, she was all the prouder of him. She was
always solicitous for his comfort, telling Mrs.
Patterson what he ought to have in the way of
food, and how he liked to have this dish and
that prepared, although Mrs. Patterson un-
doubtedly knew her father's tastes and looked
out for them.

Mrs. Johnson always asked about his room,
and invariably went every day to it to make
sure that it was in order as her husband liked
to have it, with everything in its proper place.
And she was especially careful about the Pres-

HOME LIFE OF PRESmENT JOHNSON 59

ident's personal appearance, having realized
long years before the importance of this. As a
matter of fact, Mr. Johnson himself was par-
ticular to the point of fastidiousness about his
dress, always wearing, when I knew him, a
frock coat and a high, standing collar, well-
fitting shoes or boots and carefully-cut trou-
sers. But I am inclined to think that in his
years of early manhood, when he first was
married, he could not have been so particular,
and that Mrs. Johnson's solicitous regard dur-
ing the later years was a matter of long habit.
Mrs. Johnson's ideas as to the importance
of proper dress were shown in her own case.
She never wore extravagant clothing, but she
always wore clothing of rich, expensive mate-
rial, very simply but becomingly made. She
knew the difference in fabrics and had ex-
cellent judgment as to them; and she em-
ployed the best dressmakers in Washington.
Whenever she appeared in a new gown that
was especially pleasing, the President's eyes
would light up with pleasure and he would
speak approvingly of it. Whereupon, being
the dearest of old ladies, his wife would re-

60 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

turn an answering smile and pat him on the
shoulder — just once, but enough to repay
him for his compliment.

Mrs. Johnson was solicitous not merely for
the members of her own family circle but for
every one around her. Soon after arriving
at the White House she gave instructions
through Mrs. Patterson that she was to be
informed whenever any of the servants or
other employees of the Executive Mansion
were ill, or in other trouble, or suflFering be-
reavement. And until the day she left there
she invariably looked after any who were suf-
fering.

Her considerate kindness to those who were
in distress was unusual. She would send not
merely inquiries and words of cheer, but deli-
cacies of all kinds, and flowers and personal
messages, with regret that the state of her
own health prevented her from actively look-
ing after their needs. She was a good woman,
a true Christian woman, although she was
not a member of any particular church, so
far as I know, nor could she have attended
services if she had been. Perhaps it was due

HOME LIFE OF PRESIDENT JOHNSON 61

to her influence more than to any other that
President Johnson never used tobacco in any
form, and seldom touched alcoholic beverages.
I never knew him to go to the theater.

The President was a very busy man — next
to Mr. Cleveland, perhaps, the hardest worker
who hved in the White House during my
forty-five years' experience there. He was
in excellent health, but seldom took any ex-
ercise except when he would drive out into
the country, and there, alighting from his
carriage, walk up and down for an hour, his
hands clasped back of him, while he thought
out his policies and planned this measure or
that line of action.

On other occasions he would take out to
Rock Creek Park — a favorite place for rec-
reation — his son Andrew and the five grand-
children; and there on a grassy slope the
little folks would remove shoes and stockings
and go wading in the soft water, looking for
little fishes, trying to catch water-bugs or
frogs, and having the best of good times,
especially when Grandpa joined them in a
contest as to who could skip stones the far-

62 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

thest and with the greatest number of skips.
Better than almost any other memory of
President Johnson I like to recall such pleas-
ant afternoons when, for the moment, he and
the little folks were all young together.

The usual state dinners were given during
Mr. Jolmson's administration, but Mrs. Pat-
terson i)resided at them in place of her
mother. The Thursday evening levees were
also held for such of the public as wished
to attend and meet the President. Mrs.
Johnson was present at two public receptions,
but she had to sit down for a part of each
evening while the guests were passing by in
the long line. The men and women attend-
ing the levees during the Johnson adminis-
tration generally wore evening dress, although
some occasionally appeared in plain clothing;
and while a good many were present each
Thursday evening, the people did not seem
to come with the remarkable evidence of
personal affection for the President that had
been shown by those who attended levees dur-
ing Mr. Lincoln's time.

It always seemed to me that there was no
such cordiality shown by Mr. Johnson as was

Andrew Johnson

HOME LIFE OF PRESmENT JOHNSON 88

shown by his predecessor on such occasions.
In the first place, President Johnson, though
greatly loved and admired by some, was just
as strongly disliked, even hated, by others —
this, of course, because of his positive, asser-
tive, weU-nigh belligerent temperament and
attitude.

And then, again, it must be remem-
bered that he was in immediate contrast with
not merely one of the most remarkable Presi-
dents we have ever had, but one of the most
remarkable men whom history records — a
man who was so great in vision, so noble, so
generous of heart and spirit, that every one
who met him loved him. Mr. Johnson's sup-
porters were loyal and came to the levees,
but these receptions were not attended by all
who could be present, irrespective of whether
they accepted and indorsed his political poli-
cies, as was the case in Lincoln's time.

It was not deemed necessary for President
Johnson to be accompanied by personal body-
guards, as President Lincoln had been, for
the war was over, and while times of tumult
were not entirely gone, yet the positive en-

64 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

mity had begun to disappear between North
and South — more rapidly, perhaps, than
would have been the case but for the tremen-
dous, sobering shock caused by Wilkes
Booth's dastardly crime. When the new
President first took up his duties, soldiers
were stationed in front of the Executive
Mansion and at its rear; but these uniformed
men merely acted as sentries and were soon
withdrawn; after which none guarded the
President or the White House except such
special oflScers as acted in the capacity of
watchmen. It so happened that I was selected
to accompany President .Johnson whenever
he went to any formal affair — such as a
cornerstone-laying or the unveiling of a mon-
ument — during his entire administration,
excepting the time when he made his " swing
around the circle," in the course of which
he visited New York, Philadelphia, Albany,
Cleveland, Chicago, and so on. But I never
regarded my duties as being those of a per-
sonal guard to President Johnson in the sense
that I had felt responsibility for Mr. Lincoln's
safety.

HOME LIFE OF PRESIDENT JOHNSON 65

President Johnson came back from this
extended tour the most mipopular man in
the country; venomously attacked by his
political enemies, ridiculed and lampooned
by opposition newspapers. Many people,
hitherto undecided in their opinion of him,
swiftly were growing to believe that he was
a man to be suspected of almost any personal
designs.

Of this hostile feeling both he and Mrs.
Johnson were well aware, and I think that
Mrs. Stover and Mrs. Patterson understood
it, for certainly Senator Patterson kept in-
formed of every development. But to me the
remarkable thing was that in spite of con-
stantly increasing anxiety neither the Presi-
dent nor his wife seemed to show any fear
as to the final outcome. The daily routine
was unbroken at the White House; there
was the same calmness and cheerfulness about
the family life; and knowing, as I did, what
was going on, and the storm that was threat-
ening the President, I marveled at it.

Now, however, I can see, as I have seen
for many years, that the uninterrupted calm,

66 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

the undisturbed peaeefulness of the family,
was due primarily to the deeply reverent
spirit of ]SIrs. Johnson, who was absolutely
convinced of her husband's desire to do what
was right, even though he might be mistaken.
She seemed to feel that in the end an all-
wise Providence would bring order out of
what was approaching political chaos. Sure
of her husband's desire to do his best for the
country, she was equally sm*e that right would
prevail, and even during the long weeks of
the impeaclmient proceedings — lasting from
JMarch 23 to May 16, when the verdict was
rendered — she never lost courage, not for an

liour.

1 was in the Capitol that sixteenth day

of JMay, anxiously waiting for the verdict.
When the acquittal of the President was an-
nounced I sprang down the steps, ran the
whole length of Pennsylvania Avenue at top
speed and rushed up to the White House
library, where the President and a few inti-
mate supporters had gathered, to tell him the
news. It is a pleasure now to recall that
after delivering the message to Mr. Johnson

HOME LIFE OF PRESmENT JOHNSON 67

I hurried from the library to that little bed-
room in the northwest corner of the Executive
Mansion.

Hardly had I knocked on the door when
I was told to come in. There sat Mrs. John-
son in her rocking-chair, her busy hands hold-
ing some sewing.

As I stepped through the doorway, some-
what excited, no doubt, she looked up with
her gentle smile of welcome, and was about
to ask a question; but I could not restrain
myself.

" He 's acquitted! " I cried; " the President
is acquitted ! "

Then the frail httle lady — who looked
frailer than ever — rose from her chair and
in both her emaciated hands took my right
hand. Tears were in her eyes, but her voice
was firm and she did not tremble once as she
said:

" Crook, I knew he 'd be acquitted ; I knew
it. . . . Thank you for coming to tell me."

That was all she said, and I left a moment
later; but I shall never forget the picture of
that feeble, wasted httle woman standing so

88 MEMORIES OP THE WHITE HOUSE

proudly and assuring me so positively that
she had never doubted for one instant that
her beloved husband would be proved inno-
cent of the terrible charges that had been
brought against him.

And I wish to sav here and now that not-
withstanding his temperamental shortcomings
there never was a more truly patriotic Presi-
dent in the White House than Andrew
Johnson.

One pleasant feature of President John-
son's familv life in the Executive Mansion
that I like to recall to mv own children is
that of the egg-rolling on Easter Monday.
Tlien, as now, this celebration of the coming
of springtime was considered a great event
by all the boys and girls in Washington who
were so fortunate as to be present. On the
afternoon previous, the White House kitchen
would be invaded by the youngsters of the
President's familv, who would have the mer-
riest of times dyeing dozens and dozens of
eggs, which would finally be put away safely
for the next dav's festivities. And when the
next day came the long slopes to the south

HOME LIFE OF PRESmENT JOHNSON 69

of the big building would be invaded by a
host of little folks who would roll their eggs
down the inclines as their successors do at
present.

On Easter Monday Mrs. Johnson would
come downstairs and sit in the portico, shel-
tered from the winds, where she could see all
the fun and hear the shouts of laughter; and
I am sure that nobody enjoyed the egg-rolling
more than she. After it was over she would
return to her room and her rocking-chair.

Then the great East Room would be thrown
open and many of the children would troop
in there for an unrestrained romp. The door-
keeper would use his judgment as to those
whom he admitted, and generally he admitted
a host, especially all the many friends of the
little folks belonging to the President's family.
They would race up and down the great
room, singing, shouting, playing games of
every kind that could be played indoors.

Mrs. Patterson and Mrs. Stover, and per-
haps two or three other ladies, would be
present; and sitting upstairs in her little rock-
ing-chair, Mrs. Johnson would hear and re-
joice in the childish voices below.

70 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

The first children's party ever held in the
White House was given during President
Johnson's term, on the evening of December
29, 1868 — the President's birthday anniver-
sary. Young people of to-day may be inter-
ested in the facsimiles herewith reproduced
of the invitation and the engraved order of
dancing. Nowadays we would call such an
event a children's dancing party, perhaps, or
by some name other than the rather grandil-
oquent Juvenile Soiree.

It will be noticed that the engraved cards
stated that the invitation was given by " The
Children of the President's Family," so, of
course, each of the grandchildren played an
equal part with the President's son as host or
hostess. One point that will be noticed was
that the little guests were bidden to appear
at six o'clock in the evening; and a very
sensible thing, too. I am sure they enjoyed
it all the more because they could come early
and go home before their flying bodies and
active brains were tired out by late hours.

As may be imagined, the rooms where the
young guests danced and made merry were

Invltatloa and Order of Dancing of a Juvenile Soir^
given by President Johnson's children

HOME LIFE OF PRESmENT JOHNSON 71

beautifully decorated with flowers. The great
chandeliers were ablaze with lights, the music
was the best of its kind, and the refreshments
were all that could be desired and digested.

I suppose that, compared with some of the
most lavish children's parties given in recent
years by very wealthy families of Boston,
New York, or Chicago, this first Juvenile
Soiree held at the White House forty-three
years ago might not be considered an elabo-
rate affair. But old fellows like myself, and
even such of the little guests of that evening
as are hving to-day, can still look back to it
as a marvel of social elegance, even of ques-
tionable extravagance. For in those days the
child had not wholly come into his own.

Nowadays, my young friends tell me, chil-
dren dance the two-step and the waltz almost
exclusively; and perhaps some of you who
study the order of dancing for the Juvenile
Sou-ee, here reproduced, may wonder what
the Esmeralda was, and the Varsovienne, the
Basket Quadrille, and the Quadrille Sociable 1
You will see in the dance order only one
waltz number.

H -

72 MEMORIES OP THE WHITE HOUSE

Finally came the first week in March, as
it comes to aU presidential administrations —
the opening week of March, 1869. Grant
was to be inaugurated, Johnson was to go out ;
and the staflF of the Executive Mansion were
looking forward to new things, to changes,
to a varying routine in this and that. For
more than forty-six years I have been con-
tinuously on duty at the White House, in
length of service outdating any other man now
living; and yet I feel a real sadness as the
time draws near for one President to leave
and another to come in; for I have been
treated invariably with a kindness as weU as
with consideratic n to which my subordinate
duties certainly have not entitled me.

The first few days of that March, 1869,
were busy ones for all of us who had some-
thing to do with the personal side of the
Johnson family. There was the packing of
trunks, the gathering of personal belongings,
the packing of boxes containing presents
given members of the family by friends all
over the country; and then, late in the even-
ing of March 3, the departure of all but

HOME LIFE OP PRESIDENT JOHNSON 73

President Johnson and Mrs. Patterson, who
remained overnight in the Executive Man-
sion. The others went directly to the resi-
dence of John F. Coyle, one of the editors
and owners of the old National Intelligencer,
a short distance away, where they stayed but
for a few days before returning to Tennessee,
where they tried to settle down. Notwith-
standing her feebleness, Mrs. Johnson out-
lived her husband for about a year, and every
one of the others except Andrew Patterson
is now laid to rest.

Ill

THE WHITE HOUSE UNDER PRESmENT

GRANT

The home life of President Grant and his
family in the White House was distinctly
unlike that of his two immediate predeces-
sors, President Johnson and President Lin-
coln. To those of us who were actively
engaged in the daily doings of the Executive
Mansion — whether of stations higher or
lower in point of responsibility — there never
could be duplicated, of course, the wonderful
atmosphere compelled by Lincoln's personal-
ity — radiant with hope even in the darkest
days of the war; suffused with a love for
mankind so universal that it was almost god-
like; trembling with tenderness, yet firm as
the everlasting hills when arose questions of
right or wrong.

Furthermore, in the second place, all of

' 74

WHITE HOUSE UNDER GRANT 75

us whose lives centered in and around the
Executive OflSce sincerely hoped that never
again would we experience the turmoil and
suspicion which made of the President's oflSce
an uncomfortable, seething cauldron during
Mr. Johnson's unhappy administration. And
in this respect our hopes were almost wholly
carried out.

It must be borne in mind by those un-
familiar with oflScial Washington, that in
many respects the home life of a President's
family in the White House is in great meas-
ure hke the home life of a gentleman's family
anywhere else. Sometimes, owing to a matter
of temperament, this President or that one
has permitted the official side of his experi-
ence to influence, even more or less to intrude
upon, his family routine. But Grant was
determined, from the hour he arrived at the
White House as President, to keep his official
life distinct and as far apart as possible from
his home life. He felt that no matter how
exalted was the office to which he had been
elected, he had a right to his own family life;
and he maintained it successfully.

76 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

This was easier for him, perhaps, for the
reason that he and Mrs. Grant were accus-
tomed to White House affairs and White
House etiquette before they went there to
reside. It will be remembered that from the
close of the war, and until the day of his in-
auguration. General Grant had his head-
quarters in Washington, and with his family
resided in a brick dwelling on I Street, near
New Jersey Avenue, which is still standing.

During the Johnson administration, Grant
stayed in the city, attending strictly to his
duties, never going away to make campaign
speeches or other addresses in the hope that
by such means his political prominence would
be increased. In common with all good men
and true. General Grant liked to have the
good opinion of his fellow citizens rather than
their ill-will or even suspicion. But he never
sought it by any of the familiar means em-
ployed from time immemorial by cheap poli-
ticians.

As has frequently been said of a famous
British general, so it may be said of Grant
— he did n't have to " advertise." Because of

WHITE HOUSE UNDER GRANT 77

his inherent greatness, evidenced by the deeds
he had wrought, he was a world figure — al-
though one would never get that idea from his
manner; and I doubt if he ever realized it
to the day of his death. Grant, like Lincoln,
was modest to a degree, and well bore out
the opinion, now become almost an axiom,
that personal simplicity is almost invariably
an accompaniment of true greatness.

The relations between Johnson and Grant,
and their respective supporters, were such
that the out-going President and his daughter,
Mrs.Patterson, contrary to precedent, did not
stay to receive their successors at the White
House. Nevertheless, after having been in-
augurated at the Capitol on that fourth day
of March, 1869, President Grant and Mrs.
Grant drove directly through Pennsylvania
Avenue; and when they arrived at the White
House they found the Blue Room and the
Red Room and the Green Room filled with
Army and Navy friends and others, all eager
to welcome the newcomers; a bright, eager,
merry throng, aglow with the excitement and
exhilaration of the hour. And they gave the

78 MEMORIES OP THE WHITE HOUSE

new President and his family a welcome as
cordial as it was sincere.

The contrast between this gay, light-hearted,
happy arrival of President Grant's family,
and the lonely eoming of President Johnson's
a few years previous, was almost painful.
Here there was no gloom cast over the arrival,
as in the previous instance, by the fact that
half the country already was at loggerheads
with President Johnson. There was no such
anxiety as had been constantly felt concerning
Mrs. Johnson's feeble health. There was none
of the strangeness to new surroundings, no
ignorance of White House etiquette, as was
the case when Mrs. Johnson and her children
and grandchildren had arrived. On the con-
trary. Grant was the most popular man in
the country — a hero admired, believed in,
trusted to guide to greatness and prosperity
and influence the nation which even then had
somewhat recovered from the shock of civil
war. Every one wished him well, was eager
to follow his leadership, to help him; and this
feeling of sympathy and cordiality extended
to the members of his family.

WHITE HOUSE UNDER GRANT 79

When the first greetings of welcome had
been exchanged, soon after the newly-inaug-
urated President arrived at the White House,
luncheon was served to all the guests, who
shortly afterwards withdrew, leaving the
President's family to get settled in their new
home. Besides the President and Mrs.
Grant there were present that day, as I rec-
ollect it, all their children — Frederick Dent
Grant, a lad of nineteen years, who was then
a West Point cadet, Ulysses S. Grant, Jr.,
Nelly, and Jesse.

Owing to various reasons social life at the
White House was more imposing, more elab-
orate, during Grant's time than it had been
during the Lincoln or the Johnson administra-
tion. For one thing the war was over, and
the country was rapidly pulling itself to-
gether again. A million men had left camp
and once more were back in their homes pur-
suing their usual avocations. Hundreds of
thousands of families, reduced well-nigh to
penury while the bread earners had been at
the front, were regaining a condition of pros-
perity, in many instances a condition of af-

80 MEMORIES OP THE WHITE HOUSE

fluence. People could think of something else
besides war; anxiety was ended as to the out-
come of the long struggle; men and women
felt the need of relief in social life.

Then, too, communication between Wash-
ington and other cities was easier. Ocean voy-
ages were becoming shorter, and many more
Europeans of high station crossed the Atlan-
tic and visited the National Capital than ever
before. And such foreign visitors brought
with them standards of social life, an atmos-
phere of formality, more distinct than that to
which American society in general had been
accustomed.

All these things, and many others, could
not but influence directly or indirectly the so-
cial life at the White House. Beginning with
the Grant administration, therefore, it was
necessary to be punctilious about a hundred
little matters which before then might have
been disregarded.

It so happened that the first housekeeper
employed at the White House came there
during the first administration of President
Grant. A quaint little old lady was this

WHITE HOUSE UNDER GRANT 81

Mrs. Mullen, pleasant and bright, and per-
fectly familiar with all the duties required of
her. In fact, she was so thoroughly capable
and business-like, as well as so faithful, that
Mrs. Grant soon became very fond of her.
In those days the steward purchased all the
table supplies, and with these Mrs. Mullen
had little to do; but her duties included
practically everything else connected with the
housekeeping of the Executive Mansion —
oversight of the servants, the care of the vari-
ous rooms and the furniture, and the thousand
and one details which must be looked after
in such a large establishment.

Mrs. Grant had no secretary to attend to
her correspondence, the great bulk of which
was referred to the oflSce for action. She used
to receive an enormous number of appeals for
help, for charities, for assistance, in aid of
almost every cause that could be imagined.
Being a warm-hearted, sympathetic woman,
some of these appeals made a strong impres-
sion upon her. I can remember several
instances when Mrs. Grant requested her hus-
band to give this person or that a position

82 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

that was asked for, or to accede to some other
request of like nature. She always called the
President " Ulys," and, excepting upon the
most formal occasions, he always addressed
her as " Mrs. G." Both the President and
his wife were plain people, simple in their
tastes to an extent that would cause surprise
to-day, when everyihing has so changed
throughout the social fabric of the entire na-
tion.

As an example of the unaflFected per-
sonality of Grant, I recall one of his very
infrequent visits to Washington during the
war. It was not his habit, remember, to come
to the National Capital whenever he had an
excuse; General Grant's business was at the
front, and there he stayed on active duty
practically all of the time. But on the oc-
casion referred to it was necessary for him to
make a flying trip to Washington, and it. so
happened that he arrived in the city late in
the evening on which one of the Thursday
receptions was being given by President Lin-
coln to the general public — one of the old-
fashioned " levees." As usual I was standing

WHITE HOUSE UNDER GRANT 83

opposite Lincoln, where I could scan the long
line of men and women who came up to be
presented to him.

The Foreign Ministers and other members
of the Diplomatic Corps, in all their gorgeous
uniforms and gold lace, accompanied by their
wives and daughters gowned in Paris frocks,
were passing the receiving party, and imme-
diately after this most brilliant body of men
and women came the highest oflScers of the
army and navy, also in full-dress uniform,
and then hundreds and hundreds of private
citizens from all over the country, who
stretched out in a long line, two by two,
through the various rooms. But in that group
of magnificently uniformed army and navy
officers was one short, solidly-built man who
wore a much-used service uniform, carried a
slouch hat in one hand, and had an army over-
coat thrown across his other arm. This man
was General Grant. He had reached Washing-
ton on an important mission, and had hurried
in a direct line from the railroad train to the
White House, and thought nothing whatever
about his personal appearance. Moreover, he

84 MEMORIES OP THE WHITE HOUSE

was so great and commanding a figure in the
nation, that few others of the hmidreds pres-
ent noticed the strange contrast he made to
the brilliant group which surrounded him.

Now, this plainness and simplicity was char-
acteristic both of Grant and his wife when
they came to reside in the White House; but
it was incumbent upon them to modify their
personal inclination to a certain extent be-
cause of the high official position they then
occupied. It was because times and customs
had changed so greatly in a few short years
that the social side of the White House was
much more elaborate and ceremonious than
it had been under several previous administra-
tions.

As distinguished from the purely social,
or what may be termed the " entertain-
ment " side, was the intimate family life of
the Grants in the White House; and in this
there was all the charming simplicity and
unaffectedness which makes such a life suc-
cessful. It must be remembered that in ad-
dition to the President and his wife and their
children there were a great many visitors at

WHITE HOUSE UNDER GRANT 85

the Executive Mansion during Grant's occu-
pancy thereof. Grant himself, of course, had
a host of friends and former comrades-in-arms
whom he esteemed highly and whom he always
made welcome, and while he was not so fond
of entertaining as his wife naturally was, yet
he did his share.

Mrs. Grant was a woman of medium height,
of rounded figure, with dark hair and hazel
eyes, and a skin that betokened the excellent
health she always enjoyed. She was energetic
and lively of spirit, and very active indeed.
She, too, had many friends in and around
Washington, and quite a nimiber of relatives,
who often were at the White House; among
them Mrs. Sharp, whose husband Grant after-
ward appointed Marshal of the District; and
another sister, Mrs. Casey, whose husband
was a prominent man before Grant appointed
him Collector of the Port of New Orleans.
Mrs. Casey, by the way, is living in Wash-
ington at the present writing. Then Mrs.
Grant's brother hved in Georgetown — Gen-
eral F. T. Dent, one of the Secretaries to the
President — and he and his wife and chil-

86 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

dren naturally were often at the Executive
Mansion.

One of General Dent's daughters, " Madgie/'
as we all called her, was a great friend of her
cousin Nelly Grant. The two girls were about
the same age, and being vivacious and bright,
they made charming companions. While I
have been jotting down memoranda for this
very chapter, " Madgie Dent " has called on
me in the Executive OflSce of the White House.
She is no longer Madgie Dent, however, but
the wife of Major Lafayette E. Campbell, a
retired army officer, and a wealthy mine owner
of Denver.

Of course we talked of old times, and she re-
minded me of the occasions on which I used
to take her driving about the city and suburbs
when she was a little girl here. Furthermore
she assures me that she is now a grandmother
herself — but this I could hardly believe.

Other of the Dent children who made up a
part of the merry company of young visitors
at the White House during Grant's admin-
istration were " Jack " Dent — now Colonel
John C. Dent, U. S. A., who, at the present

WHITE HOUSE UNDER GBANT 87

writing, is in Washington, awaiting retirement
for disability. And little " Jack " Dent actu-
ally is a grandfather himself I The third of
General Dent's children was a fine lad named
Sydney, who is now practising law in Cah-
fomia.

In those days children at the White House
and elsewhere were not so much in evidence
as they are in a majority of American homes
at the present time. But all these mentioned,
together with their yoimg friends, made merry
all over the Executive Mansion when permitted
to do so, and spent many of their happiest
hours in games and sports on the broad rolling
acres at the south side of the Executive
Mansion.

I was associated with Grant, especially dur-
ing his second administration, more closely
and constantly than with any other of the
Presidents during my term of service in the
White House, which began in Lincoln's time
and has continued to the present day. And
the family life of the Grants was as har-
monious and equable as any that I have ever
seen.

88 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

Grant himself was, of course, a man of com-
plete self-control. Mrs. Grant, while cheery
and of a very happy disposition, never knew
what the word " excitable " or " nervous "
meant ; her calmness was unusual. In this re-
spect she was much like the general. She
accepted his desire that their family life in the
White House should be as distinct as pos-
sible from his official life, and while she went
to his office whenever she wanted to speak to
him, yet she never appeared there until she
had made sure that he was alone, and that she
would not disturb him in his official business.

Ordinarily, Mrs. Grant dressed plainly, and,
like Mrs. Johnson's, her clothing was of the
best materials and made by the best dress-
makers. She was not particularly fond of
jewels, although, with due respect for the
proprieties, she was willing to wear them on
formal occasions, as was befitting the wife of
the President.

Under ordinary circumstances the President
and his entire family retired between half-
past nine and ten o'clock at night, for Grant
believed in getting plenty of sound sleep

WHITE HOUSE UNDER GRANT 89

whenever possible. Probably his tremendous
exertions during the years of the war had
taught him to value uninterrupted sleep as
most people do not value it. They would
breakfast at about half-past eight in the
morning, soon after which Grant would go to
his office for the transaction of business; and
Mrs. Grant, after seeing the children started
oflF to school, would hold consultations with
her housekeeper and with the steward, and
then settle down to her heavy correspondence.
Likely as not, during the morning, some of
her relatives or intimate friends would come
to the White House informally, or she would
spend an hour or two in the conservatory, of
which she was very fond, or she would go
shopping.

The entire family met for luncheon at about
one o'clock, and they had such a good time
at the table that nobody ever was absent will-
ingly, or even late. Grant was at his best
at the table with his wife and children; and
for an hour or two after dinner in the evening
he devoted himself to them wholly and solely.

When he was with these whom he loved so

90 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

dearly all his taciturnity would vanish, his
stern expression would melt away, and he
would be an aflfeetionate, sympathetic father,
dehghting in the comradeship of his little
people, sharing their plans and jokes, and
prouder than anything else, I think, that they
confided in him so freely all their hopes and
fears and aspirations. This is the Grant I
hke to think of as much as I hke to think,
with a thrill of admiration, of Grant the grim,
indomitable warrior.

In the afternoon Mrs. Grant usually went
driving in her landau, either around the city
or over to the Soldiers' Home, or along coun-
try roads just outside of Washington. Some-
times two or three of her children were with
her, or other people; but she seldom went
alone. The two horses were the finest that
could be obtained for the White House stables,
and the coachman and footman, negroes of
unusual appearance, wore a dark, rich livery
with silver-plated buttons. The coachman,
Albert Hawkins, was tall, splendidly built,
and intensely black; a powerful, smooth-
shaven man, who sat on his box like the

WHITE HOUSE UNDER GRANT 91

statue of a grenadier; while the footman
beside him, Jerry Smith, was only less impos-
ing in appearance. Together with the car-
riage itself, and the horses and their harness,
these men made an appearance strikingly im-
pressive. They realized to the full the im-
portance of what they considered their high
official situation in life, and they showed it
by their immovable dignity and extreme grav-
ity on every occasion. When some of Grant's
intimate friends, like the late A. J. Drexel, of
Philadelphia, concluded a visit at the White
House, he would be driven to the railroad
station in this equipage, and invariably tipped
each of the splendid colored men with a
twenty-dollar bill. Mr. Drexel used to say
it was worth forty dollars, any time, to ride
in that carriage.

I suppose Grant himself sometimes went for
a drive in his landau — when he could not very
well help it; but what he enjoyed was to
sit on the edge of the seat in a light racing
buggy, pull the brim of his slouch hat down
over his eyes, lean forward until his arms and
shoulders were just above the dashboard, and,

92 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

by speaking a few words to the magnificent
trotting-horse in front of him, sweep past
every other pair of heels that was kicking up
the dust of a smooth road. This he did on al-
most any beautiful afternoon when he could
get away from the Executive Office. Grant
was very fond of two forms of indoor games,
— biUiards and cribbage. So far as I re-
member, whist was not played at the White
House — certainly not to any extent — dur-
ing Grant's time there. But frequently in the
evening, after the children had gone to bed,
and when Mrs. Grant perhaps was engaged
with wives of Cabinet Members or other ladies
calling upon her, the President would send
out for General Van Vleet or other of his
warm personal friends, and would sit down
to a game of cribbage, which he would fight
almost as hard as he had planned and fought
some of his military campaigns. In order that
he might be able to play the other game
whenever he had time to spare, Grant built
a billiard-room out of a part of the old con-
servatory; and there he would generally go
for a little while after dinner, practising with

WHITE HOUSE UNDER GRANT 93

cue and balls, and puffing clouds of smoke
through half-closed lips, while he perfected
himself in difficult shots and combinations.

The President took httle exercise other than
that afforded by the billiard table, excepting
his walks about the city of Washington, and
these he would take at almost any hour of
the day, when he could spare the time, al-
though he usually went in the late afternoon.
He never thought of having any guard ac-
company him or follow him. Everybody in
the city knew him by sight, of course, and he
knew an enormous nimiber of people, so that
as he went striding or strolling along, as was
his inclination at the moment, they would
speak to him and he would return the salu-
tation; and that was all there was about it.

When he had walked far enough to satisfy
him he would turn around and come back to
the White House for dinner. The era of
American simplicity was by no means alto-
gether past, and the idea that Grant might
meet with assassination or other imtoward
happening when walking alone around the
city never occurred to his friends, and, I

M MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

imagine, was the last thing that he could
have thought of himself.

The White House was partially refurnished
imder Mrs. Grant's supervision after she came
there to live, although the changes she made
were not so extensive as in several adminis-
trations before and after that of her husband.
Perhaps no feature of the refurnishing has
been more widely known than what is called
the "Grant Administration China," which,
because of its beauty and elegance, was talked
of at the time all over the world. The porce-
lain breakfast plates were of a delicate pearly
white excepting for the broad border, which
was of a soft old-rose tone, with a very fine
line of gold around the outer edge.

The breakfast set was sufficiently elegant to
command attention and comment, but it oc-
cupied a minor position when compared with
the great dinner service, known as the " Flower
Set " in the history of the White House china.
Each of the scores and scores of dinner plates
in this Flower Set contained, in the center, a
large background of absolute white, on which
were painted flowers. The artist who de-

WHITE HOUSE UNDER GRANT 95

signed the set had used different flowers for
each of the plates — lilies, roses, pansies; in
fact I have been told that represented in the
Grant "Flower Set" of the White House
china may be found almost every flower na-
tive to the United States at the time the set
was made; and there were no duplicates in
the whole service. These dinner plates had
graceful, fluted edges; and in the border be-
tween the edge and the central background
of white was a crest executed in gold, of an
eagle with partly spread wings, surmounted
by a gold shield, and above the shield a group
of stars. This motive — the eagle, the shield,
and the stars — in some form is used gener-
ally on the china of all the various adminis-
trations, as well as on the social stationery
of the White House, such as invitations to
dinners and receptions. In a general way,
the design somewhat resembles the seal used
by the President.

In Grant's time the principal guest-chamber
was on the south side of the White House and
was furnished throughout in mahogany. The
great bedstead was especially imposing, being

96 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

beautifully carved, and having a high canopy
over its head. The old-fashioned bureau as
well as the chairs and the table of the guest-
room also were carved to some extent but
not as elaborately as was the bedstead.

In those days there were no rugs in the
Executive Mansion, the floor coverings being
carpets, usually very rich and of beautiful de-
sign. It will be remembered by those who
visited the White House years ago that the
carpet covering the magnificent East Room
had not merely been woven especially for it
in one single piece of fabric — without seam
or division whatever — but that it was so de-
signed that it contained three great orna-
mental medallions down the middle, which
corresponded exactly with three great me-
dallions just above them in the ceiling.

This most famous room of the White
House, by the way, was finished in a beautiful
figured brocade of yellowish tint, the few
chairs and sofas being covered with material
of this color, and the vast expanses of high
wall being overlaid with it. There was a large
divan in the center of the room. All this

WHITE HOUSE UNDER GRANT 97

was done away with years ago, and to-day
visitors at the White House find the East
Room walls a beautiful, soft, spotless white,
and the floor a great expanse of smooth, pol-
ished wood.

Notwithstanding her constant oversight of
her children, her care of her husband, and her
interest in many friends, Mrs. Grant had sin-
cerely at heart the welfare of the servants in
the White House. She was a very keen,
level-headed woman; possessing in her way
as much sound sense as Grant possessed in
his. Even as far back as that time, forty-two
years ago. Grant foresaw that F Street was
destined to be the leading business thorough-
fare of the city of Washington — although
why he should think so was a mystery to
most people, for to the ordinary observer
there was little evidence of the development
which has since come to pass exactly as Grant
predicted it would.

And Mrs. Grant as well saw with im-
erring eye that not many years would pass
before real estate in Washington would in-
crease tremendously in value. During her

S6 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

husband's first administration^ Mrs. Grant
used to explain to her servants the necessity
for them to purchase homes of their own
while the city was still small, and while mod-
est homes could be obtained at modest prices.
She took special interest in this matter, so
far as the dining-room servants of the White
House were concerned, and practically insisted
that each of them should purchase a home for
his family.

One of these servants, a colored man named
Harris, was slow to take her advice. He did
not realize that his mistress knew what she
was talking about, and Mrs. Grant was so
anxious for him to take advantage of the op-
portunity she saw that one day she sent for
him and said:

" Harris, if you do not buy a home at once,
and commence paying lor it while houses are
cheap, your opportunity will soon be gone.
The time is coming when there will be a great
change in real estate values all over the city.
Washington will grow into a big place so
suddenly that you will never again have the
chance that you now possess. If you do not

WHITE HOUSE UNDER GRANT 99

go out and select a home and commence to
pay for it, I will buy one for you myself;
and I will take out of your wages each month
enough to pay the installments."

Harris looked at his mistress who was speak-
ing so decidedly, and he knew that when Mrs.
Grant spoke she meant every word that she
uttered. There was no alternative for him to
choose. If he and his wife did not select the
home they wanted and comijience to pay for
it, he knew that Mrs. Grant would select a
home for him and would buy it on the install-
ment plan just as she had said she would do.
And that is the way that Harris came to have
a little property of his own in Washington.

The history of Washington real estate in the
last three decades has fully borne out the pre-
dictions made by President Grant and his wife.
At the time she threatened to hold back part
of Harris' wages and buy a home for him, he
could have purchased a piece of land on which
was an excellent brick house for four thou-
sand dollars. The brick house has long ago
been superseded on that lot, and the land
itself is worth to-day not less than forty thou-

100 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

sand dollars. It was largely through Mrs.
Grant's influence and wise advice that not a
few of the old-time employees of the White
House were enabled to make such sound in-
vestments as I have referred to.

During Grant's second administration I was
placed in charge of the reception-room for
visitors who called upon the President, and
thereafter, imtil he left the White House
again to become a private citizen, I stood as
a buffer or breakwater between Grant and \he
general public. Of course. Cabinet Members
and Senators and Representatives went in to
see him at any time, but aside from these it was
my business to interview all visitors, and sift
them down to a minimum, making sure that
every one should be brought to the President's
attention who really had good reason for see-
ing him, and that, as far as possible, none
should take up his time needlessly.

There was a great horde of office-seekers
constantly besieging the President in those
days, because the civil service had not then been
put on a competitive and strictly business basis.
While reform in the civil service had been

WHITE HOUSE UNDER GRANT 101

talked about, and had received the endorse-
ment of many of our best men, yet as a matter
of fact during Grant's life in the White House
the President appointed whomever he chose to
almost any office, or superintendency, or clerk-
ship, throughout the entire ramifications of the
Federal Government. This almost limitless
power of appointment could not but bring
down upon him a never-ceasing flood of ap-
plicants, for every possible situation that ex-
isted; and perhaps the most onerous part of
my work was to try and keep that flood from
wholly engulfing the President. I was only
partially successful, and of course I was only
one of a nimiber who tried to save Grant from
such ceaseless annoyance. In this respect, as
in many others, times have changed mightily
in and around the White House.

The days and weeks and months of Grant's
eight years at the Executive Mansion flew by
so rapidly that we scarcely realized that they
were gone. This was not true to so great a
measure, however, during the long, hot, simi-
mer months, when the President's family used
to go to Long Branch as soon as Congress

lOi MEMORIES OP THE WHITE HOUSE

adjourned in June, and remain there until
October. I never accompanied him to Long
Branch, but stayed in the oflftce, from which
important mail was sent to him, and papers
of all kinds needing his signature. It was
popularly supposed that President Grant en-
joyed four months of rest and diversion each
year at Long Branch, but this delusion was
not shared by those of us in the Executive
Oflftce who knew of the enormous amount of
business which he transacted at his summer
home.

As I have already mentioned, the White
House children during the Grant period were
Frederick Dent, Ulysses S. Grant, Jr., Nellie,
and Jesse. In a general way their history is
familiar to every one. " Fred " was born in
1850, and was graduated from West Point in
the class of '71. I have included him as one
of the " children " because he was as bright
and happy and genial as if he were really a
little boy. Yet one of his own children was
bom in the White House. A few days ago
I wrote to him — he is now Brigadier-General
Frederick D. Grant, — and asked if he could
help me to find any photographs of his father's

■1

^ v^ K^ h W J ^

i ) t^}

■K^.O?

•hi

B
o

(X4

WHITE HOUSE UNDER GRANT 103

family made during the Grant administra-
tions. I have just received Kis reply, with
which he most kindly sends the photograph
here reproduced of General Grant and his
family, the picture having been made the year
before Grant went to the White House as
President.

An additional interest in the picture may
be given by the statement that so far as
I can ascertain this is the first time it has
ever been published. It is a very good group
of portraits, and shows the members of the
family with remarkable faithfulness, as they
were at the time it was made. Unfortunately,
only about one-half of little Jesse happened
to get on the old-fashioned negative.

For some reason — or perhaps because of
no reason at all — Ulysses, Jr., was always
called "Buck;" and he was bom only two
years later than Fred. A very pleasant
memory of his boyhood in the White House
I have, too. He was a modest, retiring lad,
as sensitive and kindly as a girl ; but not lack-
ing whatever in virility or manly spirit. This
combination of apparently diverse traits re-

104 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

suited in a character that might have been
inherited from his father, as little Tad Lin-
coln's character certainly was a heaven-sent
inheritance from his great father. At any rate
" Buck " Grant was an unusual lad, and in
spite of the high position and great fame of
his renowned parent he never put on any
" airs '' whatever.

With his younger brother Jesse he attended
school at the Emerson Institute in Four-
teenth Street, and every morning a White
House orderly would drive them there in a
little wagon drawn by a pair of Shetland
ponies. When I close my eyes, even now, I
can hear the quick, staccato patter of the tiny
hoofs, and can see the flying spokes of those
whirling wheels, as the diminutive equipage
started off through the White House grounds.

At school " Buck " Grant was very popular
— quiet, caLu, absolutely fair and square, and
withal so sensitive that a cross word was more
of a punishment to him than a severe chastise-
ment would be to most boys. In the after-
noon the same little wagon and the same little
ponies would call for the lads and drive them

WHITE HOUSE UNDER GRANT 105

from school back to the White House. Later
on " Buck " went to Harvard, where he grad-
uated in 1874, and then studied law at Colum-
bia. He married the daughter of Senator
Chaffee, of Colorado, and then removed to
California, where, a dozen years ago, he was
candidate for the United States Senate him-
self. I wish he had been chosen. He would
have done valuable and important work for
the country.

As for " Miss Nellie," for so I always
think of her, she was one of the loveUest
characters it was ever my good fortune to
meet. While at the White House she was a
young lady, not a child, and being so happy
and merry, and consequently so popular, she
had a gay time there. Her bosom friend was
Miss Barnes, daughter of the former Surgeon
General of that name. Miss Nellie was the
idol of her father, as every one knows, and
Miss Barnes was one of her bridesmaids at
her marriage to Mr. Sartoris.

Of course, the Wall Street difficulties, which
involved General Grant in later years, were
to his grown-up sons like a call to arms; and

106 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

they responded instantly, doing their best to
find some way to save their father's fortune,
and, when this was impossible, to help him
pay off his indebtedness. The blood of the
old general surely flowed in the arteries and
veins of his loyal sons, undiminished in
strength of character, honesty, squareness.

For instance, at the time of the disastrous
Ward business in Wall Street, President
Arthur offered Frederick Grant a position of
quartennaster in the anny, with the rank of
captain. This oflBce was for life, it pays a
very good salary, and is much sought after.
It was promptly declined, however, by Fred-
erick, who told President Arthur that he had
determined to devote the rest of his entire
life, if necessary, to paying off the debts his
father and others of the family had incurred.
While in the army he would be well cared for
personally, as he realized ; but he would never
have a chance of getting ahead sufficiently to
wipe out old scores and leave a clean balance-
sheet. And I am sure that Fred's feeling in
this matter was fully shared by the other
boys.

THE WHITE HOUSE FAMH^Y OF
PRESIDENT HAYES

President Hayes was inaugurated on March
5, 1877, because in that year the fourth of
March fell on Sunday. He had taken the
oath of oflftce on the previous Saturday,
March 8, for the reason that Grant's term
would expire on Sunday, and it would not do
to have the United States without any Presi-
dent for the ensuing twenty-four hours. The
oath was administered to Mr. Hayes by Chief
Justice Waite on Saturday, the ceremony tak-
ing place in the Blue Room of the White
House, and at half-past seven that evening
was announced the dinner given in honor of
the incoming President by General Grant, the
outgoing President. The guests all told nimi-
bered thirty-six persons, and, in addition to
Mr. and Mrs. Hayes, included Senator Sher-
man and the members of Grant's Cabinet.

107

108 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

This, of course, was the last state dinner
given by Grant, and he had taken in its ar-
rangement the deep personal interest which
he always took when acting as host to any
one. A copy of the menu lies before me on
my desk, and is as follows:

Consomme Imp^riale Bisque de Grevisse

SHERRY

Woodcock Patties Salmon

WHITE wine

Filet op Beep Crawfish Pudding

Breast of Pheasant Goose Livers Roman Punch

Artichokes Turkey

champagne

Canvas Back Duck Warm Sweet Dish

RED WINE

The setting of the great room in which the
banquet was held was truly magnificent. The
lighting of the room was brilliant; flowers
were everywhere; on the table were set many
elaborate and beautiful '' Fancy Pieces," as

FAMILY OF PRESroENT HAYES 109

we termed them, and here and there in artis-
tic arrangement were rare fruits and envel-
oped sweetmeats of various kinds.

I had never met Mr. Hayes before he be-
came President, and while that was only
thirty-three years ago, it may interest some
of my yoimger readers to know that he was
a man of medium height, substantially built,
although not portly. He was of erect, sol-
dierly appearance, quick of step, somewhat
florid of complexion, and wore a full beard
of reddish tinge, which was already turning
gray. Rutherford B. Hayes was one of the
most lovable men, one of the " best-natured "
men who has ever lived in the White House
— of a rather humorous, light-hearted temper-
ament, and of a disposition that was truly
happy. He was easily approached by any
one who had even an excuse for meeting him.

Of course, those of us employed in the Ex-
ecutive Mansion at the time had no definite
idea as to what would be the attitude of the
new President toward us; and I fancy that
we were all rather anxious, as upon the in-
dividual personality of any President must

110 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

depend very largely the routine of the entire
oflSce, and whether the work goes along
smoothly, methodically, easily, or otherwise. I
had my first definite information as to Presi-
dent Hayes' kindliness of heart on March 6,
the very next day after his inauguration.

On December 20, 1870, President Grant
had appointed me an " Executive Clerk to
the President of the United States," my term
to date from December 1 of that year. And
one of the last papers Grant signed as Presi-
dent, and which was dated March 8, 1877 —
the very day he left oflftce — is an order
wherein he designated me " Disbursing Agent
for the disbursement of the salary and con-
tingent funds of the Executive Mansion."

This promotion to be disbursing officer at
the White House was none the less welcome
to me because it came on the day of Grant's
retirement. At the moment I had no infor-
mation as to whether the new President would
continue me in that capacity or in any other
employment; still it was a matter of deep
and grateful appreciation on my part to real-
ize that Grant, under whom I had served

epvtmetit d ittiaitot

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Facsimile of a note from Alphonso Taft to President Hayes

FAMILY OF PRESroENT HAYES 111

eight years, thought enough of me to make
the appointment, which, of course, was one of
much responsibility.

The new President assured me, however,
the day of his inauguration, that there would
be no change; and it was only a day later,
on March 6, when he issued a correspond-
ing appointment to Grant's, thus continu-
ing my position, although there was no rea-
son why he should have taken the trouble to
do so, for under a ruling of the Treasury
Department Grant's appointment would have
continued until my resignation was asked for,
or handed in voluntarily. But President Hayes
liked to do that sort of thing — he liked to
make members of his " oflBce family " feel that
he had a personal interest in their welfare;
and so, in the midst of all the rush and hurry
of his first three days of the Presidency, he
actually took time not merely to think of me
but to have the order of appointment made
out, signed, and delivered. It is a matter of
satisfaction to realize that from that day to
this I have continued in the position of dis-
bursing officer.

112 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

It was not long after the new President
arrived in the White House that every one felt
a new atmosphere. The family consisted of
Mr. and Mrs. Hayes and the following chil-
dren: Webb Hayes, a young man of twenty-
one or twenty-two years, who attended to his
father's personal business affairs. It will be
remembered that before coming to the White
House Mr. Hayes had been a practicing law-
yer in Ohio, that he had served in Congress,
and had been Governor of Ohio. Being a
careful, conscientious, able man, he was well-
to-do in worldly goods, although by no means
wealthy; and in order that his time should
not be taken up by private business, when all
his thought and effort belonged to the people
of the United States, President Hayes turned
over his private affairs to the keeping of
Webb. During the time of Mr. Hayes's oc-
cupancy of the White House his eldest son
Birchard was a lawyer, practicing his profes-
sion in Ohio, and while he made occasional
trips to Washington, yet he did not reside in
the White House.

The third son, Rutherford P. Hayes, was

FAMILY OF PRESroENT HAYES 118

in college during most of each year, although
he was glad to spend vacation seasons with
his parents in Washington.

The fourth child was little Fanny, ahout
eleven or twelve years old as I recall her ; and
the " hahy " of the family was Scott, a hoy
of about nine years, who was as full of in-
nocent mischief as any boy on top of this
green earth, and he was a great favorite with
every one at the office.

I have mentioned the fact that Mr. and
Mrs. Hayes brought with them to the White
House an atmosphere somewhat different from
that to which we had been accustomed. Al-
most all of the Presidents, during my experi-
ence of forty-six years, have attended church
here or there in the city, and in such sense
have shown their acceptance of religious
teachings. But Mr. and Mrs. Hayes actu-
ally lived their religion day by day, all
through the week as well as on Simday. By
this I do not mean that they discussed reli-
gion, or theological questions, with those who
came to the Executive Mansion; or in any
other way obtruded their religious beliefs upon

114 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

others. But what they stood for in their re-
ligious life, they stood for hard and fast.

It will be remembered that Mrs. Hayes was
one of the most influential members of the
Women's Christian Temperance Union; and
contrary to all precedents, she was determined
that wines and other alcoholic beverages
should not be served at the White House,
while she was there. The only time this rule
was broken, as is well known, occurred when
two Grand Dukes of Russia — Alexis and
Constantine — were oflScially entertained there.
This was the first and last time, I believe,
that such a thing happened while President
Hayes was in the White House.

The President and his wife, and usually
some of the children, regularly attended ser-
vice in the Old Foimdry M. E. Church which
stood at Foiui:eenth and G streets. The " Old
Foimdry," as it is locally known, has long
since been superseded by the tall, imposing
ofiice stnicture known as the Colorado Build-
ing; and its origin was due to an incident
which happened during the War of 1812.

At that period in our history, many of the

FAMILY OF PRESIDENT HAYES 115

cannon were cast for the United States Gov-
emment at a foundry owned by a man named
Foxall, whose works were located outside of
the city, on the road leading to Tenelytown.
Upon the safety of his foundry depended not
merely his own personal fortunes, to a great
extent, but perhaps even the fortunes of the
Federal Government; for in those days foim-
dries in which cannon could be cast were few
and far between. Realizing the seriousness
of the situation, when the British descended
on Washington, old Mr. Foxall prayed al-
most unceasingly that God would save his
foundry from the enemy's depredations.
And remembering, doubtless, some of the an-
cient Hebrews, the old man made a solenm
promise that if the Lord God Almighty
would prevent the British troops from dis-
covering and seizing and destroying his prop-
erty, he in return would perform for the
Lord a special service of some sort, and as
great a service as he was able to carry
through successfully.

The British descended on the National
Capital, but they did not destroy the Foxall

116 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

Foundry, and as soon thereafter as he could
do so, Mr. Foxall purchased a piece of land
and presented it as a site for the Old Foun-
dry Church.

It was Mrs. Hayes's custom to go into the
Red Room in the early evenings, after din-
ner, and sit down at the piano, gathering her
children around her, and there they would
make a beautiful picture of family life, sing-
ing hymns usually, but sometimes, during
the week, sweet, old-fashioned, tender songs.
The President almost always was with his
wife and children during this brief hour of
music, and it was his custom to go with them
inmiediately afterward into the old circular
library over the Blue Room, where family
prayers were regularly said just before the
smaller children went to bed.

The old library, by the way, was used by
the Hayes family as a living-room, just as
it had been used during the administration of
General Grant. There the father and the
mother and their boys and girls gathered for
games and stories, or sat down quietly and
read ; and there the children often studied their
lessons for the next day's school.

Rutherford B. Hayes and Mrs. Haj-es

FAMILY OP PRESIDENT HAYES 117

President Hayes was not so closely con-
fined to his office as some of the later Presi-
dents have been. After breakfast he would
make it a point to spend half an horn- with
his family, instead of rushing oflf to business
as is the habit of so many American fathers
who are engrossed in professional or com-
mercial pursuits. There was a delightful air
of leisurely living in the White House dur-
ing the Hayes administration, and when it
came time for the President to go to his
office, Mrs. Hayes frequently walked with
him, chatting as they passed along through
the corridor, and turning only when the office
door was reached. Then, while the President
was disposing of his mail, — always the first
duty of the day, — and later on, from eleven
until twelve, receiving Senators and Members
of the House of Representatives, Mrs. Hayes
would be busy with her housekeeping and her
children. Luncheon was served at one o'clock
and was as simple and homelike as could be
imagined.

The social life of the White House during
the Hayes administration was as elaborate as

118 MEMORIES OP THE WHITE HOUSE

during Grant's terms ; but the family life was
just as simple as it had been while the Grant
family occupied the Executive Mansion. In
pleasant weather, it was the habit of Presi-
dent Hayes and his wife to take advantage
of favorable opportunities when they could,
and stroll together through the grounds, es-
pecially to the south of the White House,
where they would be sure of some measure
of privacy; and they used to walk over the
green turf, and under the trees and around
the fountain, admiring the shrubbery, pausing
to talk about the buds and blossoms, and
enjoying the breath of nature with a zest
that was positive.

It was during Mr. Hayes's term that a
croquet ground was laid out on the lawn just
beyond the south portico of the Executive
Mansion. There the children and their
friends could frequently be seen, and there
also, at certain times — especially when the
President's family was out of the city —
quite a nimiber of the clerks on the White
House staflf used to spend an hour now and
then in the cool fresh air over hard-fought

FAMILY OF PRESIDENT HAYES 119

games with mallet and ball. This freedom on
the part of the younger men whom Mr.
Hayes affectionately included in his '' office
family/' was a delightful experience for them,
and I doubt if public business suffered in
any way because those hard-working young
fellows were permitted, once in a while, to
lay down their pens and go out to the cro-
quet grounds. But that custom has long since
gone by, and the idea that clerks nowadays
would seriously think of playing croquet or
tennis or anything else on the White House
grounds during business hours would cause
consternation in the office. For a good many
years past the business of the Executive
Office has been run strictly on business prin-
ciples, as in any industrial or commercial es-
tablishment, and it is not to be expected that
the old-time leisurely manner of conducting
its affairs is ever likely to return.

Mrs. Hfi|,yes was exceedingly fond of flowers
and all forms of plant life. She knew a great
deal about this side of nature, and she spent
much time and thought in the conservatory,
where she could often be seen at practical

120 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

work among her plants, trowel in hand or
pruning-knife, teaching Fanny and little Scott
how to care for the beautiful buds that came
into being, and matured, and gave way to
others. She was a very busy woman, too,
during her life in the White House, and I
think she enjoyed it thoroughly, as a novel
experience, notwithstanding the fact that
while there she was denied the privacy of her
old home life. Many delegations of women
engaged in work for the uplift of humanity
called upon her, especially those interested in
.the cause of temperance, and these she al-
ways seemed glad to receive. It could hardly
be otherwise when one remembers her own
deep interest in all such matters, and the
prominent and influential part she played in
them.

As a rule she did not attend public meet-
ings, excepting those held in aid of good causes
at church; but there she could frequently be
seen. In July, 1889, after her death, a great
memorial service was held in honor of Mrs.
Hayes at the Old Foundry Church by the
Women's Christian Temperance Union. The

FAMILY OF PRESroENT HAYES 121

services were presided over by Mrs. S. D.
LaFetra and included addresses from a num-
ber of persons concerning Mrs. Hayes and
her work, together with the singing of her
favorite hymns. It was my privilege on that
occasion to speak of Mrs. Hayes as I had
known and seen her almost daily for four
years in the White House.

It has often been said that when parents
are strictly opposed to the use of tobacco or
alcoholic beverage, or to dancing, or card-
playing, their children, or some of their chil-
dren, invariably swing to the other extreme
of the pendulum on reaching mature life, and
frequently are victims of dissipation in one
direction or other. Perhaps this may be so
when parents are unreasoning fanatics; but
such Mr. and Mrs. Hayes emphatically were
not. They taught their children the useless-
ness, as they saw it, of spending money for
tobacco, and of the positive danger of alcoholic
beverages. They instructed their children
wisely and with sweet reasonableness in these
and other matters, and safeguarded them
successfully by thus forewarning them of

128 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

dangers which ahnost all men, and which
many yomig women, face as they go through
life.

The result of this loving care proved its
worth. Mrs. Hayes's daughter and all of her
four sons are to-day healthful, happy, and
eminently successful in their responsible sta-
tions in life. Not one of the boys ever uses
liquor or tobacco in any form, and I do not
believe that they ever will. And, of course,
the same thing may be said of the daughter.

I do not wish to be understood as trying
to give the impression that upon Mrs. Hayes
alone rested the entire responsibility of the
bringing up of her family. Her ideas as to
the right way of living were shared to the
utmost by her husband. And they carried
out these ideas quietly, calmly, with sympa-
thetic tenderness, each bearing equal respon-
sibility and being glad to do so.

Notwithstanding the tremendous turmoil
caused by the counting of votes at the end
of the Hayes-Tilden campaign, everything
suddenly became quiet immediately after the
President's inauguration, and few if any other

FAMILY OF PRESroENT HAYES 12S

Presidents have enjoyed a calmer term of
administration in the White House. It will
be remembered that the election was so close
as to necessitate a decision by the highest
tribunal that ever met in this country, — the
Senate, the House of Representatives, and
the Supreme Court of the United States,
passing final opinion as to whether Hayes or
Tilden had been elected President. So much
in earnest were Mr. Tilden's supporters and
so violent were some of the unthinking among
them, that for a time it was common to hear
threats made on the streets that they were
determined to seat him in the White House
if they had to bring an armed force to
Washington for that purpose.

Although a dozen years had passed since
the close of the Civil War, men's passions
were yet easily aroused, and the threats re-
f erred to reached the ears of President Grant,
who quickly put a quietus on the movement
to seat Tilden whether or no, by asserting that
whoever was declared by the Senate and
House and Supreme Court to be elected
President, he himself would see inaugurated.

IM MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

Grant made this assertion just once and
allowed it to become known to the pubUc;
and the public knew that when the Com-
mander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of
the United States made such an assertion —
and when that official was Ulysses S. Grant
— he would carry out his announced plan, no
matter what happened.

Consequently from the day that Grant's
declaration was made public Mr. Tilden's ill-
advised followers uttered no further threats.

Their mouths were closed instantly and per-
manently. All that is well-known history
to most of my readers, but the surprising
thing is that so soon afterward, immediately
upon his inauguration, President Hayes was
accepted cordially by practically the entire
country. Of course, there were a few who
still insisted that his election was fraudulent,
in spite of the decision rendered; but these
few were so insignificant in number and influ-
ence that they made no impression upon the
nation at large.

At this point I am asked, by my collabo-
rator, who were the strongest enemies Mr.

FAMILY OF PRESIDENT HAYES 125

Hayes had during his administration. And
I am compelled to reply that President Hayes
had no enemies such as most other Presidents
have had. He had political opponents, who
disagreed with him as to policies and meas-
ures and plans generally; but of enemies,
who were trying to fight him and control
him and upset him, who were intriguing to
demolish his influence and to ruin his career,
he had none. Men could differ from him on
public questions, but nobody could hate
Rutherford B. Hayes, and this because of
his lovable character.

It is a poor rule that won't work both
ways, as we all know; and it is a good rule
that will work both ways. President Hayes*
lived according to what was a good rule. He
hated nobody, and nobody could hate him.
His friendliness and sympathy were at all
times extended to those with whom he came
in contact; and as a result he enjoyed their
good will and sympathy.

There were some persons — and perhaps
there are some to-day — in whose opinions
President Hayes was what is sometimes

126 MEMORIES OP THE WHITE HOUSE

termed a " soft " man, — one easily influ-
enced against his will. We, who saw him at
close range, however, realized that he was
able, keen, sharp; a man who instantly saw
through pretense. As an indication of his
abihty to take care of himself under any cir-
cumstances, and of his caution, I may repeat
what I have said elsewhere, — that he was the
only President, certainly the only President
during the last half century, who invariably
had a stenographer present in his private
office. No matter who came to call upon
President Hayes, the visitor never saw him
alone. At a table in the office sat Mr. Gus-
tin, an expert stenographer, whose business
it was to take down in shorthand everything
that was said to President Hayes, and every
word that the President said in reply, ex-
cepting when some one, such as a member of
the President's household, would come in and
talk upon some purely personal matter.

In this way President Hayes protected him-
self to an extraordinary degree. It was im-
possible, under the circumstances, for any
political opponent later to assert untruthfully

FAMILY OF PRESroENT HAYES 127

that in the Executive Office President Hayes
had told him that he would do so and so; or
that he would not do so and so, for the Presi-
dent had ready, for instant proof, a steno-
graphic report of every word spoken by him
and by the visitor who came to his office —
and this was well known to be so.

The children of the White House during the
Hayes administration had many friends, and
enjoyed themselves in what is termed a good-
old-fashioned way. There was no dancing in
the Executive Mansion, there were no lawn
parties, or card parties, or musicales. As a
matter of fact, there has been little real
gayety in the Executive Mansion until com-
paratively recent years. The first children's
party was given during President Johnson's
administration, as I have already mentioned;
and the first Christmas tree ever put up in
the great white building was yet to come in
President Harrison's time. Nevertheless, the
Hayes children did not lack for amusement.
The martial atmosphere, so long enveloping
Washington, had become dissipated, and little
Scott Hayes did not " play soldier " as Tad

128 MEMORIES OP THE WHITE HOUSE

Lincoln had done. But he and Fanny used
to run around, — busy, happy little children
engaged in a thousand and one pursuits, —
and would unhesitatingly come into the office
whenever they wanted to do so.

I liked all of the children, of course, but
my special pet was little Fanny — then a girl
of about eleven years, if recollection serves
me. For some reason she seemed to like me,
also, and frequently she would come trotting
to the office, where I sat at my desk, and
climb up on my knee, and demand pen and
ink and paper. Whereupon she would gravely
lean forward over the desk and indite a note
addressed to me, with much care and much
puckering of her otherwise smooth little fore-
head. Some of the childish messages, written
on bits of paper, I carefully preserved, and
I am glad to look at them once in a while,
when they bring to my mind the lovable,
happy little lass who composed them with so
much effort. One of them which I hold in
my hand is as follows:

FAMILY OF PRESIDENT HAYES 129

Feb. 9th 1879

Dear Sir. — I am very much
obliged for the French writing-book.

Your affectionate Friend

Fanny Hayes.

The single sheet of paper on which this is
written was carefully folded over, and on the
outside it was addressed thus:

JPrivate

Mr. Crook

Washington, D. C.

Fanny and her Uttle brother, Scott, used to
come to me whenever they wanted pencils or
paper on which to draw pictures, or little rub-
ber bands, which they seemed to value highly;
and, of course, I mad? sure to have a suffi-
cient stock of such childish treasures on hand

for my little visitors.

Among the many friends of these two
youngest members of the President's family
were the children of the President's Secre-
tary, Mr. W. K. Rogers, who had studied for
the ministry in Ohio before coming to Wash-
ington. He had one daughter, a son, W. K.

190 MEMORIES OP THE WHITE HOUSE

Rogers, Jr^ who was about fifteen years old;
and the babv of his familT was another son,
little Andrew, who was betweoi four and five
when I first knew him. ^Ir. Rogers lived
near the White House, and having known Mr.
and Mrs. Haves intimatelv for manv vears,
his little people were at the Executive Man-
sion almost every day as playmates of the
President's youngest children. For some rea-
son little Andrew Rogers at once adopted me
as his special friend among the grown-ups in
the Executive Office, and one of the first
things he would do on arriving would be to
come over to my desk, looking verj" mourn-
ful, climb up on my knee, and sit there silently
for a moment. Whereupon I would say:

" Good morning, Andrew, I hope you are
feeling well to-day \ ''

" Xo," the little fellow would respond with
a sigh, " I have a cough, and if I do not do
something for it, I am afraid it ^Wll get

worse/'

Then I would open what I called the
** children's drawer " in my big desk, and take
out half a dozen harmless cough drops, or

FAMILY OF PRESroENT HAYES 131

bits of horehoimd candy, and as soon as he
placed one of these sweeties in his dear little
mouth he would immediately recover from that
terrible cough, and after thanking me politely,
would trot out and find the other children.
For some reason Andrew's cough never got
beyond the stage of early recovery — I guess
it was because he used to come to my desk
for cough drops pretty nearly every day.

Other friends of Fanny and Scott Hayes
were my own children, Harry and Carrie.
All four were about of an age and frequently
played together in the White House grounds
or over at the Soldiers' Home, just outside
of the city, where President Hayes spent the
summer. Fanny was a plump, chubby, merry
little mite of humanity with hair brown, but
not quite so dark as her mother's. She was
a very handsome child, and with great good
sense Mrs. Hayes dressed her simply and
becomingly. At the time of her father's
presidency* she had grown beyond the " doll-
baby " stage, and was very fond of books,
especially of fairy tales. Little Scott Hayes
was lively as a cricket, and like his sister

132 MEMORIES OP THE WHITE HOUSE

Fanny, and his big brother Webb, closely re-
sembled his mother in general appearance,

Rutherford P. Hayes, even at that time,
was deeply interested in the study of botany.
During his vacations from college he used to
spend most of his time out of doors examin-
ing and gathering specimens of plant hfe,
not merely in and around Washington but
throughout various adjacent sections of Vir-
ginia and Maryland. He was of studious
habit from boyhood, and went about his self-
chosen task methodically and with unflagging
interest. He mounted his specimens on a
particular kind of bristol-board, the sheets of
which were cut to a convenient size, and these
he used to obtain from my stock.

Owing to a lack of room in the White
House, Rutherford could not have a study of
his own wherein to prepare the specimens he
gathered, so he did most of his work in a
little room at the northeast end of the White
House, which at that time was used as a tele-
graph room. There he used to classify and
mount hundreds of specimens, study them,
and make records for his own purposes. Liv-

FAMILY OF PRESroENT HAYES 18S

ing so much of the time in the open, and in-
heriting health and an equable temperament
from both parents, Rutherford was a fine type
of young man, — strong, hearty, rollicking,
and full of fun. He is now engaged in for-
estry work down in the Carolinas, and, like
the other Hayes children, has done unusually
well in life.

During Mr. Hayes's presidency his son
Webb was a young man in the early twenties,
and he also loved to be out of doors, being
especially fond of hunting. Whenever I could
get a day or two of vacation I went with him
down in Virginia to hunt deer or quail or
duck or geese. I remember one time when
Webb and I started for Old Point Comfort
and there met Captain Lafayette E. Camp-
bell, of the Quartermaster's Department, with
whom arrangements had been made before-
hand. The captain had ready a good-sized
power launch stocked with provisions, and an
excellent negro cook, and we steamed far up
the James River, turning into a stream which
branched off through a stretch of lowland
country. Here and there lived a few families

184 MEMORIES OP THE WHITE HOUSE

of " poor whites," who earned a living, such
as it was, principally by fishing, and by ex-
tracting from a peculiar kind of fish a fatty
oil, which they would send to the nearest town
for sale. We were out after wild geese on
that hunting excursion and had been told that
plenty of them could be found in the low-
lands. So when we reached a favorable local-
ity the launch was tied up, the cooking tent
was set up on shore, and we all got ready for
the hunt.

There was no question as to the presence
of the wild geese; we could hear them at
night all around us, but they must have been
informed of Webb Hayes's prowess as a
hunter, for during the several days of our
sojourn there none of us got within gunshot
of a single goose. But we enjoyed the out-
ing all the same, especially the long frosty
evenings when we would gather around the
roaring camp-fire. As soon as it was really
dark some of the " poor whites " already al-
luded to would come floating down the wind-
ing little stream in small boats or in canoes,
and, stepping ashore, sit down by the fire, and
inspect our party.

FAMILY OF PRESroENT HAYES 1S5

Word quickly passed from one to another
that strangers were in the vicinity, and they
wanted to find out who we were. During the
first evening or two they would answer ques-
tions simply enough, although they were by
no means of a communicative disposition; but
somehow they learned that one of our party,
Webb, was a son of the President of the
United States, and from that time on we
could hardly get a word out of them. They
came down to see us as usual, but on arriv-
ing they would simply sit around near the
fire and look at Webb, and look, and look,
without question or comment. It was amus-
ing to Captain Campbell and to myself, but
I don't think the young man enjoyed being
the object of such close and constant ob-
servation.

On another occasion Webb invited me to
go on a deer hunt down in Virginia. We went
to Petersburg, and there we joined Colonel
Bradv, Collector of Internal Revenue, Con-
gressman Joseph Jorgensen, and a third
gentleman, who had a fine two-horse spring
wagon ready for us, into which we stepped

1S6 MEMORIES OP THE WHITE HOUSE

and rapidly drove down to Dinwiddie Court
House, ten or a dozen miles distant, as I
recollect the drive. There we found a few
houses, and there we spent several days^ hunt-
ing quail and deer. The game was plentiful,
especially the white-tail deer, which would lie
around in the fields during the daytime, rest-
ing in the sage brush like so many huge
rabbits.

Colonel Brady and Mr. Jorgensen had
made excellent preparations for the hunt,
and in the morning fifteen or twentj^ farmers
would gather at the appointed place, well
mounted and accompanied by their hounds.
The guests of tl:3 hunt would be taken into
the woods and wc;ild be placed near some of
the well-trodden paths known as " deer-
runs," by means of which the wliite-tail were
accustomed to traverse the forests. Then the
farmers would take their dogs around tlirough
the woods, starting up deer, wliich would soon

come bolting down the runs at breakneck
speed; and as one of the leaping creatures

would dash past him, the hunter was supposed

to fire at it. The deer had every chance to

FAMILY OF PRESroENT HAYES 137

escape, and as a matter of fact the entire
party succeeded in getting only one, which
was shot by Webb. A number of others were
seen, but they scented danger long before we
could " draw a bead " on them, and spring-
ing away from the familiar " run " they would
flash into the almost impenetrable forest and
instantly disappear.

It was on the occasion of this deer hmit
near Dinwiddie Court House, by the way,
that I first learned how much good sense
an intelligent horse possesses. Dr. Smith,
father of John Ambler Smith, who was later
a Representative in Congress from that dis-
trict, had provided a mount for me, — a highly
intelligent thoroughbred mare. I had become
so interested in waiting for the deer, one day,
that I neglected to keep a sharp look-out as
to the direction in which I was riding alone
through this great forest of fox-tail pines.
The trees rose to a great height, and the
ground was covered with heavy underbrush.

Suddenly, from afar off, I heard the faint
notes of a horn giving signal for the hunters
to return to Dinwiddie Cbiul; House. I lis-

1S8 BIEMOBIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

tened intently, trying to ma^ out the direc-J
titm frtHn idiidi the notes came, but was ■:
absolutely unable to determine it On every
side the seemingly endless forest looked the
same; and I realized that I was lost. Wliile
sitting there in the saddle and wondering
which direction I had better try first, one dog
after another came trotting through the under-
brush, more or less blown after a hard chas^
looking anxiously at me and then at eadi
other, scsnetimes running o£f a few steps in
one direction, and then in another, evidently
trying to decide where they should go. The
horn sounded again, more faintly it seemed
than before. At that, the dogs gave evidence
of their anxiety by sitting down in a group
around the horse and howling.

Then Dr. Smith's mare turned her head
around, looked inquiringly at me with her
beautiful intelligent eyes, and seeing that I
made no objection, she started off without the
least hesitation, in a bee line, straight through
the underbrush of the forest. I let her have
her head, and the half dozen dogs silently
trailed after us. On we went through the

FAMILY OF PRESroENT HAYES 139

forest, for a long time, when we suddenly
came to its edge, and I found myself facing
the broad, smooth turnpike which leads to
Dinwiddie Court House. But whether we
ought to turn to the right or to the left I did
not know, so I let the mare decide, and she
chose her way without the slightest hesitation,
and in less than an hour we were at our
destination.

The tranquil life of the Hayes family in
the White House ended as naturally and as»
easily as it had commenced and continued
during the four years. We were all sorry to
see them go, for somehow we in the office felt
that Mrs. Hayes had brought with her and
would take away that atmosphere of rare
tenderness which we employees might never
experience again; and I am convinced that
every man and woman at work in the White
House was truly sorry to see the family leave
it. Not merely the whole office force did its
utmost to please President Hayes in every
possible way, but all the servants of whatever
capacity. I never knew an employee or a
servant to be reprimanded during the four

140 MEMORIES OP THE WHITE HOUSE

years when Mr. and Mrs. Hayes were in the
White House.

The last time I saw Mr. Hayes was the
last day he ever spent in Washington — dur-
ing the National Encampment of the Grand
Army of the Republic in 1892. A reviewing
stand had been erected near the corner of the
Treasury Building, fronting on Pennsylvania
Avenue, where a number of persons sat watch-
ing the great procession, and close to this
stand a little refreshment room had been ar-
ranged, the luncheon having been sent over
from the White House, and being served by
White House waiters. I was standing at the
entrance of this little refreshment room when
I happened to look up Pennsylvania Avenue
and spied Hayes turning the corner of Fif-
teenth Street with his comrades. I hurried
down the line and met him before he reached
the stand, and invited him to drop out of the
ranks and rest there. He did so, and re-
mained until the parade was through.

That evening I called upon him where he
was visiting a friend, and we talked of many
things that had happened in years gone by.

FAMILY OF PRESroENT HAYES 141

He seemed glad to have me recall scenes
which had been familiar to both of us, and in
which Mrs. Hayes had been the leading figure

— little happenings of their quiet, happy,
home life in the White House; and when I
left him it was with the hope that I might
often have the privilege in future of sharing
such reminiscences. But this hope was not
to be fulfilled. Mr. Hayes never again came
to Washington ; and before long he laid down
his peaceful, happy life here in order to join
his wife in one still more peaceful and happy

— as he had always expected to do.

WHITE HOUSE MEMORIES OF PRESIDENT
GARFIELD AND PRESIDENT ARTHUR

One of the first evidences I had that Presi-
dent Garfield's family had taken up their
home life in the White House occurred a few
days after the fourth of March, 1881, when
the new President was inaugurated. On the
third of March, President Hayes had given a
great banquet in honor of the incoming ad-
ministration, and the office force was trpng
to settle down to routine, when I happened
to go on an errand which took me along the
great corridor running through the main floor
of the Executive Mansion. I was walking
rapidlj% thinking hard about the errand, look-
ing neither to the right nor to the left, when
suddenly, just as I reached the foot of the
grand staircase leading to the living rooms of
the President's family on the floor above, I

142

PRESIDENTS GARFIELD AND ARTHUR 143

was startled by a shrill cry of warning shouted
in a boyish voice:

*' Hoop-la 11 Get off the track or you '11 be
run downl "

Without an instant's hesitation I sprang to
one side, and as I did so quickly glanced up-
ward. And there, perched on one of the
old-fashioned bicycles with a high wheel, was
President Garfield's young son Irving, coast-
ing down that staircase like lightning. In an
instant he had reached the foot of it, " zipped "
across the broad corridor, and with skill little
short of marvelous turned into the East Room,
the flashing steel spokes of his wheel vanish-
ing like the tail of a comet.

I stood still for a moment and gasped. I
confess that I was paralyzed for that moment.
That any small boy, even a son of the Presi-
dent of the. United States, would dare to
start at the head of that great staircase on a
bicycle and coast down it was almost unbe-
lievable; and that he would do so as suc-
cessfully as a trained circus performer was
beyond my comprehension. These thoughts
flared their way across my astonished brain

144 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

in the fraction of a minute, and the next
second I sprang forward to the door of the
East Room to pick up the dismembered re-
mains of Irving Garfield. But it was not
necessary. That enterprising American young-
ster was still on his high wheel, and was
treading it around and around the great East
Room with evident satisfaction to himself,
wholly regardless of two or three attendants
who stood with their backs as close as they
could get them to the wall, their faces
gray with horror and apprehension, as the
young human comet flashed past them in
his orbit around and around the most mag-
nificent apartment of state in the Western
Hemisphere.

But before many weeks had passed by, I
got used to such boyish pranks, as did the
doorkeepers and the servants of the Execu-
tive JMansion. For everv once in a while,
when the President was surely engrossed in
some protracted meeting in the Cabinet Room
or elsewhere, and when ISIrs. Garfield was
away — driving into the country perhaps —
young Irving Garfield did not hesitate to

PRESIDENTS GARFIELD AND ARTHUR 145

bring three or four of his boy friends and
their bicycles into the East Room, where they
would hold a series of races. The room was
eminently suited to such purposes, because it
contained little furniture and because of its
spacious extent. The carpet, too, was firm
and smooth, although soft enough to prevent
the wheels from " skidding." It is needless
to say that such pranks never came to the
knowledge of either President Garfield or his
wife, for no member of the White House staff
would tell tales out of school. It was not our
business to regulate such affairs. But this
example had a curious precedent.

Shortly before that time bicycling came
into general use in this country, and when
President Hayes's family were away for the
summer, several of the clerks in the Execu-
tive OflSce purchased wheels and learned to
ride by practicing in that same East Room.
That such a thing could ever have happened
in the White House seems almost incredible
to-day, but it is a fact, and only shows what
great changes for better discipline and more
business-like conduct of affairs have taken
place in the last three decades.

14« MEMORIES OF THE J^HSTE HOUSE

Gardeld was fiftv rears old yrbesa

m m

he came to the White House, and 3Its. Gar-
field was but one year younger. Both had
risen from humble stations in life, and like
so many other young men and wcnnen in that
generati(xi they had studied as hard as they
had worked. Thev had absorbed uncon-
sciously the atmosphere of piogressiye culture
while Garfield was making: his wav to the
presidency of Hiram College, — at the age
of twenty-six years* — and then through an
increasingly important political and military
career. Consequently, when they came to live
in the \Vhite House, they stood on perfect
equalit}' with personages of the highest social
station in Europe as well as in this country.
Mrs. Garfield was at the AMiite House for
onlv about three months before she became
ill, and was removed to Lonar Branch in June,
because the heat of a Washiiijjton summer
already had conmienced. Anc^ it was only a
month later when the President was shot.
For this reason there are comparatively few
details to be told concernins: the Garfield
family life in the ^Miite House; and for the

PRESIDENTS GARFIELD AND ARTHUR 147

same reason it was not my privilege to be-
come as well acquainted with President Gar-
field's family as would otherwise have been
the case.

Mrs. Garfield was rather slender than
plump, with a sweet, pleasant face and dark
hair and eyes. The Garfield children were
James Rudolph, Harry, " Mollie," Irving,
and little Abram. James and Harry were
then preparing for college, and a small room
at the northeast end of the White House was
set aside as their study. I had a large desk
made for this room, seating four people, with
a set of drawers on each of the four sides, —
the only desk of its kind I ever saw. And
there the boys studied every morning and
every afternoon, together with Donald, the
son of Colonel Rockwell, Superintendent of
Public Buildings and Grounds, who was an
intimate friend of the Garfield family. Each
day their tutor arrived, — Dr. W. H. Hawkes,
who later practiced medicine in Washington
and has since died. James and Harry were
both of studious habits and paid close atten-
tion to their books, as did young Rockwell.

148 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

All of the boys and their tutor were punctual
to the minute, working hard from nine o'clock
until lunch was served, and also, spending most
of the afternoon over their books.

\\Tien a President is inaugurated, he is so
occupied with new duties that no formal en-
tertainments of a social nature are given by
him until the following Xew Year's Day ; con-
sequently, there was no elaborate entertaining
of guests during President Garfield's short oc-
cupancy of the ^\Tiite House. The children
invited their young friends there, and a few
intimates of the President and his wife called
on them and sometimes staved to lunch or
dinner. Other than these, however, there was
no attempt made to entertain. I never hap-
pened to see dear old " Grandma " Garfield —
the President's mother. But liis love for her
was sho^^^l in manv wavs durincr his life, and
when she came to the ^^^lite House, feeble be-
cause of age, she found that her son had built
an elevator for her use, as she was unable to
walk upstairs. Tliis was the first time an ele-
vator was ever put in the White House.

Mrs. Garfield had no secretarv, and her cor-

PRESIDENTS GARFIELD AND ARTHUR 149

respondence was attended to in the usual way.
She was very fond of driving, as was her hus-
band, and they used to go out together in a
carriage whenever possible. Both were inter-
ested in the flowers and shrubs in the conserva-
tories and gardens of the White House, and
the President never hesitated to walk around
the city alone, unaccompanied by a guard or
other attendant. When Mrs. Grant left the
White House, her old housekeeper, Mrs. Mul-
len went with her; and Mrs. Garfield, like Mrs.
Hayes, had no housekeeper, although President
Hayes's steward, W. T. Crump, stayed on
under Garfield's administration. Crump was
devoted to Garfield; and, after the President
was shot, helped to care for him in the sick
room. Once, in lifting the President, to ease
him while lying in bed with that terrible wound.
Crump injured his own back so seriously that
he never got over it as long as he lived.

The story of Garfield's assassination by Gui-
teau is too well known to need another rela-
tion here, but several little incidents of White
House life connected with that tragedy may
be of interest to my readers. Mrs. Garfield

150 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

had been ill and was recuperating at Long
Branch, when the President arranged to start
for an extended tour through New England,
leaving Washington on July 2, 1881, and going
by way of New York City, where Mrs. Gar-
field was to join him. The party which was to
accompany him from Washington consisted
of his children, Harry, and James, and Miss
MoUie Garfield; Colonel and Mrs. Rockwell,
and their children, Don and Miss Lulu Rock-
well; Dr. W. H. Hawkes; the Secretary of
the Treasury and Mrs. Windom; the Post-
master General and Mrs. James; the Secre-
tary of the Navy and Mrs. Hunt; the Sec-
retary of War; Judge Advocate General
Swain, and Col. Jamison, of the Post Office
Department.

From New York they were to go to Irving-
ton on the Hudson to spend Sunday ; on Mon-
day to Williamstown, Mass., there to stay un-
til Thursday noon in order that the President
could take part in the commencement exercises
of Williams College, where he had been grad-
uated. They were to journey thence to St.
Albans, Vt., spending Friday there, and going

PRESIDENTS GARFIELD AND ARTHUR 151

on Saturday to the White Mountains for a
quiet Sunday, intending to ascend Mt. Wash-
ington on Monday. The following day their
intention was to go to Portland, Me., and to
Augusta, where the Presidential party would
be the guest of the Secretary of State. Mr.
Blaine had obtained a revenue cutter on
which the guests were to sail along the Maine
coast, visiting Mt. Desert, and other places of
interest; thereafter returning home by way
of Concord, N. H., Hartford and New Haven,
and two or three other places.

As may be readily imagined all who were
fortunate enough to be included in the Presi-
dential party looked forward eagerly to this
extended outing, especially the younger mem-
bers thereof, who had thought and thought
about it for days. President Garfield was es-
pecially pleased, because his wife had so far
recovered her strength that she would be able
to leave Long Branch and join him at New
York.

I shall not forget that morning of July 2,
1881. I left my home very early, and went to
the White House to see the President, and also

152 MEMORIES OP THE WHITE HOUSE

to attend to a business matter with his Secre-
tary, Mr. J. Stanley Brown, who was starting
for Europe. As I reached the Mansion, I saw
Gniteau, who was coming down the steps lead-
ing to tlie main entrance, and hurrying on I
demanded of the doorkeeper,

"What does that fellow want here to-day?
I thought we 'd got rid of him! "

" He came as usual and asked how the Presi-
dent was," tlie doorkeeper replied. And I
went to the office more distiirhed inwardly than
I cared to show.

The President and his children were to leave
the White House in plenty of time to catch the
limited express for the North which was to
start from the Old Baltimore and Potomac
Depot at half-past nine o'clock. Before break-
fast was served one of the doorkeepers, Ricker,
went from the main floor to the living quarters
of the family to find Mr. Garfield. Hearing
shouts of laughter in a room occupied by
" Jim " and Harry Garfield, Ricker went di-
rectly there to ask where the President was,
and as he approached the open door he saw the
two boys turning handsprings on the bed.

PRESIDENTS GARFIELD AND ARTHUR 153

Garfield himself was in the room, and said to
his sons,

" I think I can do that as well as you can."
Whereupon Ricker saw the President of the
United States step forward without an in-
stant's hesitation, spring up into the air, land
on his hands, and without apparent effort turn
a perfect handspring, coming down lightly and
firmly on his feet, to the surprise of his two
yoimg sons and to the amazement of the door-
keeper who had been sent to find him.

Only an hour or so later Garfield left the
White House for his summer outing, as other
Presidents have left it year after year, with-
out a thought of impending danger. I was not
sorry to see him go away, for although Guiteau
had been refused admittance to the White
House for some time, yet he kept calling there
every morning to ask after the President's
health. I tried to reassure myself with the
general conviction aroimd the Executive
Office that this man, while undoubtedly a
crank, was a harmless crank — one of the
familar type of partly responsible people
who are always trying to see every Presi-

154 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

dent. Yet, because of my experience while
personal body-guard to Lincoln, I was al-
ways scenting possible danger, although fre-
quently laughed at by my friends for so doing.
And altogether I was not sorry to learn that
President Garfield was on his way out of the
city. Perhaps while he was gone Guiteau
might so conduct himself that he could be
legally locked up in an asylimi.

Word reached the Executive Mansion, only
a little while after President Garfield had
left there, that he had been shot. A mes-
sage was flashed at once to Mrs. Garfield,
who started for Washington as soon as she
received it, and from then until the wounded
President was taken to Elberon everything
possible was done at the White House
to save the slender thread of life which
still remained. Scarcely had he been carried
within doors of the Executive Mansion than
a strong force of police was rushed there and
a guard instantly thrown around the extensive
grounds, nobody being admitted without a
special permit. My duties were such that it
was absolutely necessary for me to be able to

PRESIDENTS GARFIELD AND ARTHUR 155

enter and leave the grounds and the Executive
Mansion, and the first permit that was issued
and signed by the President's Secretary, Mr.
J. Stanley Brown, was an order for the police
to admit me in and out at all times.

As soon as the surgeons ascertained how seri-
ously the President was wounded, certain steps
were taken which were necessary for the trans-
action of government business. The President
was unable, of course, to sign papers or docu-
ments, and very soon I received an order to
have a stamp made, containing a facsimile of
Mr. Garfield's signature, this to be attached
to important documents. While imable to
speak positively, I have always understood
that this stamp was used a great many times
by the Secretary of State, Mr. Blaine. I think
it is the only time that such a stamp has ever
been made for the use of any President, un-
less possibly in the case of William Henry
Harrison, while he was lying ill in the White
House, where he died.

One day I received word that the consulting
surgeons thought the President's strength might
be increased were he to have some squirrel

156 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

soup, of which he was very fond, and I was
notified to be ready whenever the doctors
should send word, to go out and shoot some
squirrels. This intention was communicated
to Grcneral Sturgis, then Commandant of the
Soldiers' Home, who at once rushed over to
me a permit to shoot squirrels in the grounds
surrounding the Home, for the purpose men-
tioned. I think this is the only time that an
order was ever issued permitting any one to
go gunning in those grounds. But I never
used the permit, for the doctors never sent me
word to go out after the squirrels.

One of the members of the Executive Office
staff was an intimate friend of Garfield's, Mr.
Warren S. Young, who was in the Treasury
Department when Garfield was inaugurated.
Thereupon Mr. Garfield brought him to the
Executive Office, knowing that he could rely
upon him at any time to carry out the most
difficult tasks. As soon as the President was
taken to Elberon, Mr. Young was sent there,
and there he remained until Garfield died. It
is not known generally that Mr. Young acci-
dentally gave to the country the news of Gar-

PRESIDENTS GARFIELD AND ARTHUR 157

field's death. He was in the room where tfie
President lay, and when the end came he hm*-
ried out on an errand of importance. A mo-
ment later he ran into the army of newspaper
correspondents waiting outside, who formed
the " death watch " on the President. Al-
most overwhelmed by the sad event which had
just occurred, Mr. Yoimg did not imderstand
a question which one of the correspondents
asked him as he passed the group, and thinking
it must have been regarding the President's
condition, he replied:

" Yes, it 's all over."

Hardly had the words escaped his lips when
that squad of newspaper men sped off to the
telegraph office hke bird-shot fired out of a
gun. When I recalled this happening to Mr.
Young, only yesterday, he said that in all his
life since then he has never seen anything Hke
the way those correspondents whirled around
at his words and darted off toward the
wires.

" They did not wait to ask anything further,"
he said; "President Garfield had just died.
Their business was to get that single sentence

158 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

into their newspaper offices at the earliest pos-
sible second. And they did so."

'Mt. Young, by the way, is still a member of
the staff of the Executive Office. At present
he looks after all the dinners, lawn parties, and
musicales given at the AVhite House, making
up lists of in\4tations from instructions given
him by the Lady of the AVliite House, arrang-
ing for the seating of guests at the state din-
ners, and preparing and sending invitations.
All this is very responsible work — requiring
not merely good taste, but exact knowledge
of social forms and requirements, as well as a
wide and absolute imderstanding of the order
of precedence of the many officials, and of
members of the Diplomatic Corps, etc., who
strictly observe such matters of etiquette.

Although my own personal knowledge of
Air. and ]Mrs. Garfield was limited, yet I have
learned a great deal about them from people
who knew them well and intimately, and who
would have no reason for telling me anything
but the exact truth. A loving, devoted couple
were General and Mrs. Garfield to the end.

cs-

PRESIDENTS GARFIELD AND ARTHUR 159

Chester A. Arthur, Vice-president of the
United States, was sworn in as President at
New York, the day Garfield died. He came at
once to Washington and established himself
in General Butler's house on Capitol Hill.
At the time this was a fine modern residence,
built of granite, with spacious rooms, beauti-
fully finished and elegantly furnished. The
first floor was entirely given up to general of-
fices, while Mr. Arthur had his private office
on the second floor. It was not until weeks
afterward that he came to the White House
to reside there; and in the meantime messen-
gers were constantly going back and forth,
carrying mail to and from the President, and
all sorts of papers and documents which needed
his inspection and signature.

Mrs. Garfield had been able to do little in
the way of re- furnishing the White House, be-
cause she had been there for such a short time.
So during the weeks that Arthur lived in Gen-
eral Butler's old home he generally came to the
Executive Mansion every evening after dinner,
and made a thorough inspection of the oflSces
and state apartments and living rooms above

160 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

them. Night after night he would go from
room to room and corridor to corridor, giving
orders to change this and that according to his
own taste, and in the dayiime upholsterers
and others were busily engaged in carrying out
his wishes. If Garfield had lived, certain re-
pairs would have been made, for, owing to the
semi-public character of the White House, the
wear and tear on furniture and hangings is
considerable. But President Arthur's repairs
were not very extensive.

When he finally came there to live, his fam-
ily consisted of his sister Mrs. McElroy ; a son,
Chester A. Arthur, Jr., who was always called
Allan; and his daughter Nelly, a pretty girl
of the brunette type, who was about fourteen
or fifteen years of age. Mrs. McElroy was a
widow, of medium size, sweet-faced and pleas-
ant, but of decisive manner when giving orders.
Like her brother, she knew exactly what she
wanted, and how she wanted it done; and she
never hesitated to express her wishes clearly.
During Arthur's term, she was, of course,
known as the " Mistress of the White House."

Allan Arthur was a student at Princeton —

PRESIDENTS GARFIELD AND ARTHUR 161

a tall, handsome young fellow with piercing
black eyes and white skin. He was very slender
indeed, and bright and clever. Like his father,
he was extremely fond of horses; although
unlike the President in that he enjoyed driving
them himself. I have always understood that
he did well at college, but occasionally he had an
irresistible desire to escape from the classic
shades and academic groves of the quiet college
town, and he would suddenly appear in Wash-
ington without notice. President Arthur used
to be surprised every once in a while by unex-
pectedly seeing Allan at the breakfast table,
when he supposed the young man to be delving
away at his studies at Princeton. But that
never bothered Allan to any extent. When the
spirit moved him, he would simply step on a
train at Princeton and bolt through to Wash-
ington as soon as he could get here. He had
many friends in the city, among whom he was
a great favorite ; and it did not make any dif-
ference to him whether he arrived here at four
o'clock in the afternoon or at ten o'clock at
night. The first thing Allan would do would
be to order his team of horses from the White

162 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

House stables. Then off he would whirl to call
upon some young lady, if it were not too late ;
or to ring up some of his young men friends.
He was of a happy disposition in those student
days, and when he was home on vacation he
did much to add to the gayety at the White
House.

The usual period of mourning, after Gar-
field's death, was strictly observed in and
around the Mansion, and there was no formal
entertaining imtil New Year's Day, 1882, when
Mr. Arthur gave his first public reception.
Then, as now, this New Year's Day affair was
attended by several thousand persons, all of
whom met and were greeted by the President.
The reception commenced at about one o'clock,
and lasted during a greater part of the after-
noon. Notwithstanding Garfield's assassina-
tion, Mr. Arthur had no body-guard while he
was President, and, so far as I am aware, no
attempt was ever made to do him harm.

After the beginning of the new year, the
usual state dinners were held, and also a larger
number of private entertainments of various
kinds than I had ever known before in the

PRESIDENTS GARFIELD AND ARTHUR 168

White House. Mr. Arthur was a different
type of man from any who had preceded him
during my experience there, and he was accus-
tomed to that light-heartedness and efferves-
cence which has long distinguished social life in
New York City. The new President was a
large, heavy, tall man, strikingly handsome and
possessing the Chesterfieldian manner. He de-
lighted to entertain his friends ; he wanted the
best of everything, and wanted it served in
the best manner. He was the first President,
so far as I know, to have a valet, and one was
needed, for Mr. Arthur dressed fashionably,
and his clothes were generally made in New
York. He was always well groomed; almost
faultless in his dress.

In the afternoon he was fond of driving
around the city, or through the country near
by, and always had a gentleman with him, for
he positively dishked to be alone. Sometimes
he used his victoria, and occasionally rode in the
saddle; but most of all he enjoyed his four-
in-hand. These horses were bays, almost per-
fectly matched, and when they started off
through the White House grounds, driven by

164 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

William Williss, a colored man and a very fine
horseman, with the President of the United
States and several ladies and gentlemen seated
in the carriage, the equipage made a brave
showing indeed.

Mr. Arthur never drove horses himself and
he did not walk a great deal or take much
other exercise. But what he loved to do was to
drive out and then bring home a merry com-
pany of ladies and gentlemen to dinner, which
would be presided over by Mrs. McElroy, and
afterwards spend the evening in light-hearted
talk, — telling stories, smoking excellent cigars,
and winding up with an elaborate supper at
midnight or later.

Mrs. McElroy had her afternoons at home,
following the usual custom of the ladies of the
White House, when she would receive inti-
mate friends as well as those in official life
who were entitled to be present. On such oc-
casions the Marine Band rendered fine music,
and the same atmosphere of gayety was pres-
ent that always distinguished social life during
the Arthur administration. Miss Nellj^ Arthur
was too young to appear at formal affairs, but

PRESIDENTS GARFIELD AND ARTHUR 165

she had a number of congenial young friends
who were welcomed by Mrs. McEboy, and
who thoroughly enjoyed their visits at the
White House.

President Arthur and his household spent a
considerable part of each simmier at the Sol-
diers' Home, and there he maintained his
usual mode of life — that of a man who pos-
sesses an intensely social nature. " Aleck "
Powell, his colored valet, always went with him
when he was called out of town, and, of course,
attended him during the simmier sojourns.
Arthur, by the way, was the last President to
use the beautiful house built out there espe-
cially for the summer residence of the Presi-
dents. This house, in the grounds of the
Soldiers' Home, is of brick, covered with
a form of stucco which Washingtonians call
" pebble-dash." It is large enough for the
use for which it was intended, and completely
furnished. Owing perhaps to the increased
ease of communication between Washington
and summer resorts far distant, it has not been
considered necessary or even advisable of late
years for the President to spend the hottest

166 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

months of the year at this oflScial summer resi-
dence. Mr. Arthur, however, spent his sum-
mers there, and there Mrs. McElroy also was
in charge.

As a rule the Lady of the White House is
not supposed to go into society as freely as if
she were not a member of the President's fam-
ily; so Mrs. McElroy used to visit only the
homes of her few intimate friends. She had
excellent judgment in matters concerning
White House affairs, and some of the china
of the Arthur administration is an evidence
of it. It was not necessary for a full set of
china to be purchased for the use of President
Arthur, but a great many individual pieces
were ordered to replenish those which had been
broken.

As a matter of fact, since I have been in the
White House, there have been only five com-
plete sets of china brought there; and these
were for the administrations of Lincoln, Grant,
Hayes, Harrison, and Roosevelt. A full set
of White House china means a great deal. It
means that there must be a breakfast and a
luncheon and a dinner service consisting of

PRESIDENTS GARFIELD AND ARTHUR 167

everything that can be thought of for the use
of the head of the nation and his family, his
personal guests, and the large number of of-
ficial guests who gather at state entertainments.
Owing to the breakage, especially of glass, a
large part of the several services has to be
replaced from time to time. Very little silver
is lost or broken, and much of the old plate
dating from Lincoln's time is still in use. This
silver, and the gold plate, consisting of such
things as knives, has been in the charge of the
stewards of the various administrations. Presi-
dent Arthur's steward was under a bond of
ten thousand dollars, and of course was re-
sponsible for the valuable property placed in
his care.

During Arthur's term the Marshal of the
District was Mr. Morton McMichael, 2d, of
Philadelphia, who created the innovation of or-
dering the doorkeepers of the White House to
wear a bit of ribbon in the lapel of their coats
to distinguish them from guests. In Mr.
Arthur's administration no mihtary man had
any ofiicial duties in connection with White
House entertainments.

168 MEMORIES OP THE WHITE HOUSE

The years from 1881 to 1885 passed by with
little to distinguish them sharply from the
preceding years, except for the atmosphere of
gayety and joyousness which I have already
mentioned.

When March 4, 1885, arrived, the incoming
President, Mr. Cleveland, drove to the capi-
tol accompanied by Mr. Arthur and then they
returned to the White House. The outgoing
President did not remain for the elaborate
luncheon he had ordered prepared for Mr.
Cleveland, but bade him good-bye and went
quietly away from the Executive Mansion.
While bidding farewell to some who had been
closely allied with him in the White House,
tears coursed down Mr. Arthur's face. After
he left the White House he sent me authoriza-
tion to dispose of his horses and carriages at
auction, to the best advantage, and I did so.

WHILE MRS. CLEVELAND WAS
"MISTRESS OF THE WHITE HOUSE''

The home life of President Cleveland in the
White House was so enveloped and irradiated
by the rare personality of Mrs. Cleveland, that
all of us who had to do with the Executive
Mansion in the two Cleveland administrations
think, first of all, of that perfectly charming
and beautiful woman ; for the moment forget-
ting that Mr. Cleveland had occupied the
White House as a bachelor from March 4,
1885, until June 2, 1886, the later date being
his wedding day.

The fourth day of March, 1885, was a bright
and beautiful day; one which the admirers of
the President-elect designated as a " Cleve-
land Day " — because they claimed that good
weather always preceded any event in which
he was interested. Whether or not this suppo-

169

170 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

sition was true, the fact remains that it was a
bahny spring day, and the hosts of dtiz^is from
all over the country who were present and wit-
nessed the installation of the first Democratic
President in twenty-five years fairly * reveled
in the unusual conditions.

Unlike most of his illustrious predecessors
during my long term in the White House,
President Cleveland did not visit the Execu-
tive Office and become acquainted with the em-
ployees for some days. And it was more than
a week perhaps before some of those engaged
therein had an opportunity to speak to him.
Indeed, some were never introduced to him.
The great building was over-run with stran-
gers, who came there in droves, some declaring
that they had not looked into the Executive
Mansion since the days of Buchanan. On the
fifth day of March, I administered the oath
of office to Colonel Lamont, the new private
secretary to the President, and it was without
fear of removal that the office force saw him
take charge, as all believed implicitly that Mr.
Cleveland would remove nobody from office
except for cause, and a good cause at that.

MRS. CLEVELAND IN WHITE HOUSE 171

A good many interesting things happened
during President Cleveland's first few days in
the White House, and I remember an amusing
occurrence which happened on March 8, when
a grand rush was made toward the Executive
Mansion by delegations representing a number
of Presbyterian churches in Washington, each
being desirous and determined to secure the
President's membership. The New York
Avenue Church, for example, where Mr. Lin-
coln used to worship, sent a special delegation
of ladies to call upon the President, and as they
approached the White House on the north side
Mr. Cleveland and Colonel Lamont quietly
left by the south entrance and went for a drive.
In doing so the President had not the slightest
intention of showing any discourtesy to the
ladies who were appointed to bring him into
their particular church, but he did not wish to
decide just then regarding church attendance,
and he was so tender-hearted and so kindly
disposed that it was almost impossible for him
to refuse any request in reason that a woman
might make of him.

It is well known, of course, that Mr. Cleve-

172 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

land was a plain, simple man, who had no
desire to make himself prominent, and who was
greatly distressed by the importmiities of a
large nmnber of newspaper correspondents
who were determined to find out all about his
movements day by day, and hour by hour.
The Democratic hosts who had swept him into
the Presidential chair had given the country
at large to understand that under this first
Democratic President in a quarter of a cen-
tury there would be an entirely new deal —
business would be transacted very differently
from the way in which it had been carried on
by Republican Presidents; the new executive
and his official supporters " would show the
country how things ought to be run on purely
American lines."

All this and much more to the same effect
had aroused the interest and curiosity of the
nation to such an extent that the newspapers
felt it incumbent upon them to print the most
careful details concerning all the President
did, and said, and thought — so far as they
could ascertain these things — from the time
he rose in the morning until he went to bed.

MRS. CLEVELAND IN WHITE HOUSE 173

after spending the better part of each night
over his desk.

It is ahnost impossible, even now, to picture
the enthusiasm exhibited by President Cleve-
land's supporters who had caused such an over-
turn in national politics. Delegations of all
kinds, from all sections of the country, waited
upon him to congratulate him and to congrat-
ulate the nation, to shake his hand and to
carry home with them some words or impres-
sions which could be repeated to their neigh-
bors.* I recall one delegation of charming
women from the South who walked into the
office during the busiest of all mornings, fully
expecting to have an audience with Mr. Cleve-
land, and perhaps a long talk. It was impos-
sible at that time for the President to see these
ladies; they went away greatly disappointed
and highly indignant, the leader saying:

" For years we have been praying for a
President of the Democratic faith, and I do
not see why he will not see us to-day. Why,
he is our own President and we must see him I
Is this the reception we are to expect after wait-
ing for so many years? "

174 MEMORIES OP THE WHITE HOUSE

Of course, those who came in contact with
those ladies regretted sincerely that their wishes
could not be met, but at that time the Presi-
dent was so deeply occupied that he could not
see any one except on official business. The
energetic politicians of Washington also were
coming to the front with demands that they
be given local offices, and with as much as-
surance as if the city alone were responsible
for the President's election.

Notwithstanding such constant interruptions
from hundreds and hundreds of visitors, who
swept in an unending stream to the White
House, yet the social and family Ufe moved
smoothly from the very first. The President's
sister, Miss Rose Elizabeth Cleveland, had at
once proved herself perfectlj^ competent to
occupy the position which she was called
upon to fill, and ten days after her brother's
inauguration she held a reception which was
very largely attended, among the guests being
the Hon. James G. Blaine and Mr. Walker
Blaine. Those who were fortunate enough to
be invited were charmed with Miss Cleveland,
and many predicted social success for her while
in the White House.

MRS. CLEVELAND IN WHITE HOUSE 175

The President's first oiRcial reception, on
March 17, was a brilliant affair, and was
thought by some to surpass any social event
given by preceding Republican Presidents.
As a matter of fact, while the reception was
brilliant it was not extraordinarily so; and I
may add that none of the official receptions
before or since Mr. Cleveland's time have ever
equalled the diplomatic receptions given by
President and Mrs. Hayes. President Cleve-
land, by the way, made an experiment, in his
early days at the White House, of adopting
a new style of invitation for official receptions,
but it was very unpopular. Senators and
Members of the House and the Judiciary each
received an engraved invitation at the begin-
ning of the season, giving on a single card the
dates of all the receptions that were to follow,
and this unusual precedure offended many.
As soon as Mr. Cleveland realized the situa-
tion, the plan was discontinued and engraved
cards were sent as usual for each of the several
entertainments. State dinners were held as
during other administrations, but here again
there was an innovation, the President giving

176 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

each guest a souvenir consisting of a ribbon
about three feet long, and three inches wide,
on one end of which was stamped a picture of
the White House, and on the other the na-
tional colors, the Coat-of-Arms of the United
States appearing in gold. To this rather gor-
geous ornamentation was added the name of
the guest, and the date of the dinner, in gold
letters. This large and unusual souvenir was
intended for the ladies present, while for the
gentlemen a smaller piece of satin ribbon was
substituted, on which were stamped only the
Coat-of-Arms, the name of the guest, and the
date of the reception.

From the very first I felt that the glitter of
official life was distasteful to Mr. Cleveland.
He was a man who believed that he had work
to accomplish, and that work was a serious
matter which must be attended to, and with
which nothing must interfere. So strongly
pronounced was this habit of industry, and so
decided was his mental attitude in regard to
the duties he owed the people of the country
as well as himself, that on one occasion, after
having left the White House, he said to me :

MRS. CLEVELAND IN WHITE HOUSE 177

" Crook, in looking back at those years I used
to feel that I was a prisoner. When I left my
breakfast table and went to my oflSce, it used
to seem that a yoke was placed around my neck
from which I could not escape. There were
many pleasant things connected with the office,
but they did not compensate for the annoy-
ances. ... I am glad I am free."

Of course, the great social event during Mr.
Cleveland's first administration was his wed-
ding to Miss Frances Folsom, which occurred
on June 2, 1886, and in this the President's
dislike of show and extravagance was again
manifested. To the great disappointment
of official Washington, and perhaps to the
disappointment of the nation at large, the
marriage was solemnized as quietly as pos-
sible. The main reason for the private na-
ture of this event lay in the fact that the
bride's grandfather had died not long before;
but even if there had been no such condition
I am confident that Mr. Cleveland would have
tried his best to avoid any publicity in con-
nection with it.

It will be remembered that Miss Folsom was

178 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

the daughter of one of Mr. Cleveland's old law
partners, who had died some years previous,
and that thereafter she had been under Mr.
Cleveland's guardianship as a ward. At the
time of the wedding, the President was a ma-
ture man; but when she stepped from the
train early on that morning of June 2, and was
met by the President's sister and driven to the
White House, the bride-to-be was only twenty-
two years of age, in the full bloom of youth,
her beauty and grace and carriage enhanced
and made almost luminous by an atmosphere
of spirituality that enveloped her as truly as
she lived and breathed.

She was accompanied to Washington by her
mother and by her cousin, Benjamin Folsom,
and as soon as she could alight from the train
and step into the President's carriage where
Miss Rose Elizabeth Cleveland was waiting,
Hawkins, the negro coachman, swished his
whij) and they whirled away at high speed,
hoping to evade or elude or out-distance the
army of newspaper men who had come from
New York on the same train. When the car-
riage reached the White House, those of the

RffiS. .CLEVELAND IN WHITE HOUSE 179

servants who, by any excuse, could be present,
were waiting around the doors to witness the ar-
rival of the bride-to-be. As she tripped up the
steps and swept through the great entrance like
a radiant vision of young springtime, a gasp of
surprise and delight burst from those kindly
servitors, and from that instant every man and
woman of them all was a devoted slave, and
remained such until Mrs. Cleveland left the
White House for the last time — eleven years
later, on March 4, 1897, when Mr. McKinley
took up his residence there.

The day of his wedding President Cleveland
spent in working as hard as he ever did in his
life, although he made two or three short breaks
in it ; once or twice to chat with Miss Folsom
and her mother, and another in .the afternoon,
when he went for a drive. During the after-
noon, an inquiry came from the Postmaster
General as to whether the President could pos-
sibly find time to sign two or three Postmas-
ter's commissions that were ready to be sent
out, and I recollect the comical expression on
Mt. Cleveland's face as he lifted it above the
pile of papers on his desk and exclaimed :

ISa MEMORIES OF THE WHTTEtHOUSE

'' Yes, I will sign — but tell him to get those
documents here as quick as the good Lord wiU
let him."

Shortly after this occurrence John Philip
Sousa and the full strength of the Marine Band
were waiting, in the place assigned to them in
the White House. Fifteen seconds before
seven o'clock Sousa's baton was poised in the
air. Exactly as the hands of the White House
clocks marked seven the baton descended, the
band struck into Mendelssohn's "'Wedding
March," and everybody knew that the marriage
ceremony had begun. By that time the few
guests were in their places, and included in
addition to the Cabinet Officers and their wives
— with the exception of the Attorney Gen-
eral, Garland — Colonel and Mrs. Lamont,
the Rev. Dr. Sunderland and Mrs. Sunder-
land, Mr. W. S. Bissell, of Buffalo, Miss Cleve-
land, and the bride's mother and her cousin,
as well as a few other relatives, not the least
important of whom was the Rev. William
N. Cleveland.

As the last notes of the " Wedding March "
floated through the corridor, the President

MRS. CLEVELAND IN WHITE HOUSE 181

came slowly down the staircase with the bride
leaning on his arm, and the guests by common
consent fell back toward the south end of the
Blue Room. It was there, imdemeath the
crystal chandelier pouring a flood of radiance
on the scene, and surrounded by a wealth of
flowers and plants such as never before had
been seen in the White House, that the cere-
mony was performed. At its conclusion Mrs.
Folsom, showing traces of deep emotion, was
the first to tender her congratulations to the
newly married pair. She was followed by Miss
Cleveland, the Rev. Mr. Cleveland, and the
other relatives and friends in turn. When the
felicitations had been concluded, the President
and his bride led the way into the stately East
Room, the adornments of which were in keep-
ing with its majestic proportions. Thence,
after a brief period of promenading and con-
versation, the company proceeded to the family
dining-room of the Mansion, where the wed-
ding supper was served.

It was about half -past eight o'clock when the
President and his bride left the White House
by a private exit from the Blue Room to the

182 MEMORIES OF THE WRITE HOUSE

South Grounds, entered a carriage and were
driven to the railwaj' station, where they took
a special train fur Deer Park, Jlaryland, some
two hundred miles distant from Washington,
and there spent their brief honeymoon.

It may interest my younger readers of to-day
to know that the bride's dress was of corded
satin, heavy enough to stand upright on the
floor without support, even if no one were
wearing it. The drapery of India silk served
the double purpose of softening the gloss of the
heavy material and rounding the outlines of the
bride's tall figure, without detracting at all
from her grace and shapeliness. A band of
orange blossoms outhned a dehcate drapery,
and the bosom was crossed by soft filmy scarfs
which terminated beneath a heavy fold of satin
below the waist. Orange blossoms and bows,
and leaves so small as to make a bare outline,
bordered the drapery of the skirt. But the
marvel of the whole costume was the train of
that wedding gown, and the still greater mar-
vel was the way in which it was managed by
the bride in a small, well-filled room — for it
was nearly as long as the room itself, measuring

MRS. CLEVELAND IN WHITE HOUSE 183

within a few inches of fifteen feet. Through
the bride's deft management it lay in a glisten-
ing coil close to her little shoes, and yet it would
have reached easily from the spot where the
vows were pledged across the room and into
the corridor. beyond, through which the bridal
party had come. Her gloves reached only to
the elbow, and the silk tulle veil was almost
large enough to envelop her.

Of course, a great number of presents had
been received, but only one was shown; and
that was the President's gift, a diamond neck-
lace of truly regal magnificence.

When the honeymoon at Deer Park had been
ended and the President had returned to the
White House, his beautiful young bride at once
took up her new and trying duties with an ease,
an efficiency, and graciousness that captivated
all who came in contact with the Executive
Mansion, whether personal guests, or those in-
vited to official affairs.

I am an old man now and I have seen many
women of various types through all the long
years of my service in the White House, but
neither there nor elsewhere have I seen any one

184 MEMORIES OE THE WHITE HOUSE

possessing the same kind of downright lovdi-
nes8 which was as much a part of Mrs. Cleye-
land as was her voice, or her marvelous eyes,
or her warm smile of welcome that instantly
captivated every one who came in contact with
her. It has been my purpose, in preparing
these present recollections of family life in the
White House during the past forty-five years,
to be careful not to over-state this thing, or
to make extravagant remarks about that thing,
and I am well within the bounds of conserva-
tism when I repeat that Mrs. Grover Cleve-
land was the most charming woman and the
most lovely character that I have ever known
in the course of my life. When one remem-
bers that in addition to this she was physically
beautiful, one can easily imderstand her ex-
traordinary influence upon all who saw her.

Hardly had Mr. and Mrs. Cleveland re-
turned from their honeymoon when they were
beset by all sorts of people. Photographers
were struggling and scheming for the chance
to make a picture of the bride. Requests
rained in from piano makers asking permission
to place a piano in the White House for the use

MRS. CLEVELAND IN WHITE HOUSE 185

of the bride, declaring that no charge would be
made, and that they wanted to send a piano
there " simply for the honor " of the thing.
One piano maker in New York insisted that
Mrs. Cleveland accept his instrument on the
score of old friendship. All these outside de-
tails took up a great deal of the President's
time, for the reason that he would not allow
them or anything else to interfere with his of-
ficial work. Consequently, when he first re-
turned from Deer Park, he had almost no
leisure whatever. Nevertheless, he seemed to
be as happy as mortal man could be. In those
days, as I saw him plunge through his enor-
mous tasks, I used to smile to myself — for he
seemed as happy as a man in the back coimtry
districts who had suddenly " got religion," and
got it thoroughly.

Through all the years of both administra-
tions Mr. and Mrs. Cleveland, notwithstanding
their disparity in age, were a very affectionate
couple. While she naturally deferred to her
husband's judgment in many matters, Mrs.
Cleveland was possessed of a keen mind and
could see straight through things which would

186 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

baffle many women. I remember that on one
occasion the President sent for me to come to
his office, at about nine one morning, and said
he wanted me as a notary to take his acknowl-
edgment and Mrs. Cleveland's acknowledg-
ment to a deed. Mrs. Cleveland was present
at the time, but before she signed the paper the
President walked off to the other side of the
room in order that I might privately question
her as to her willingness to sign the paper.
Mrs. Cleveland told me that she was signing it
without any mental reservation, whereupon
the President turned around and remarked:

" I think that such a requirement of the law
is silly — I mean the clause that requires a no-
tary privately to examine a woman before she
signs a deed like this."

After a moment's hesitation the President
added :

" Still, I suppose the requirement was
caused by reason of impositions practiced upon
some i)oor women, who felt compelled to sign
papers under their husbands' insistence."

At this Mrs. Cleveland laid down her pen
and looked up, laughing heartily at the idea

MRS. CLEVELAND IN WHITE HOUSE 187

that her husband would ever try to impose upon
her in any way. The next day but one she sent
for me to see her, and when I came she said:

" Colonel, I want to speak to you about some
packages from Italy that I am expecting ; but
don't breathe a word about them to anybody,
for it is a surprise that I have planned for the
President; and if he sees the box he would be
sure to ask what was in it."

Of course, I saw that the precious gifts she
had arranged for with such loving care, were
smuggled into the White House and into her
own hands, with the final result of surprising
and pleasing her husband as she had hoped
to do.

It would not be hard for me to relate scores
of instances where Mr. Cleveland showed his
tender care for her and where she showed like
feeling for him, through all the long years of
his two administrations. And if ever a man is
permitted to use the word " damnable " I think
it may be permitted here and now in criticising
as such the outrageous lies that were spread
abroad by political and other enemies of Mr.
Cleveland, in regard to his domestic life. The

188 MEMORIES OP THE WHITE HOUSE

least things were seized upon as an excuse for
trying to make trouble, as the months and
years went by. I have mentioned already the
fact that Mr. Cleveland worked harder, and
kept longer hours than any other President we
have ever had. But every once in a while he
became so completely fagged out that he sim-
ply had to leave his office and get out of doors.
And many an afternoon, during his two terms,
he would quietly slip through the White
House, enter a buggy waiting for him at the
rear, and drive over into Maryland for a few
hours' squirrel shooting. So careful was he as
to telling the truth that often he never informed
his secretary of such an outing. Consequently,
when visitors came to the White House to see
him, they would be told that the President was
not in. Those who pressed for further par-
ticulars would be told that he had gone off
somewhere for the afternoon, and would not
be back until night — perhaps not until the
next morning.

Thus it was that enemies were enabled to
seize upon such situations for an excuse to hint
that President Cleveland indulged in periodical

MRS. CLEVELAND IN WHITE HOUSE 189

dissipation. These stories were spread abroad
with such cunning and devilish ingenuity that
the persons responsible for them could not be
called to account; and as it was practically
impossible, under the circumstances, for any
one in authority to recognize them by so much
as a flat denial, the country at large was left
to con j ecture as to how much truth there was in
them. Of course this was not unknown to those
in the White House, and could not but have
been the cause of anguish. I dislike, exceed-
ingly, to touch upon such situations; but
scarcely any man in high public office seems
to be able to escape from corresponding at-
tacks, and this fact should be borne in mind
by all of us when we read irresponsible and
sensational pubhcations.

While referring to this unpleasant phase
of high public career in the United States, I
may mention that not only are men in office
sub j ect to such annoyance, but oftentimes their
wives as well. And this is well illustrated in the
case of Mrs. Cleveland by several instances
that were so silly as to be beyond the ground
of serious feeling. When the President's

190 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

first daughter was bom, little Ruth Cleveland,
it was a time of great interest for the whole
country; and when she was brought to Wash-
ington every woman in the vicmity felt de-
sirous, quite naturally, of seeing the dear little
mite of humanity. Gifts of all kinds were
prepared, not merely by friends, but by stran-
gers from near and far; for while the Presi-
dent at that time might not have been the most
popular man in the country, there was no
doubt whatever that his charming wife was the
most popular woman.

Having a natural desire to see her babe live
and thrive, Mrs. Cleveland wished her to spend
a portion of each sunny day outdoors, and the
nurse was directed to take the little one in a
carriage to the grounds on the south side of
the White House so her lungs could be filled
with God's fresh air — to which she was en-
titled. If recollection serves me, the nurse
and the baby-carriage, not to mention the
baby, had not been out there, the first time, for
more than six minutes when some of the visi-
tors strolling around spied them, made a rush
for them, and started in to pet the baby and kiss

MRS. CLEVELAND IN WHITE HOUSE 191

her. The first few who did so attracted many
more; and from that day it was impossible
for little Ruth to be taken outdoors without
having a group of strange women swoop down
upon her from all points of the compass. It
did n't make any difference if the hour for her
outing was changed; the women would be
there, waiting for the appearance of the nurse
and the baby-carriage. And mindful of all
the dangers attendant upon such feminine stu-
pidity, Mrs. Cleveland took the only course
left open to her — and the South Grounds of
the White House were closed to strangers.

Now, mark you, what happened. It seems
almost too ridiculous for belief, but it is true.
As soon as the great public, washed, unwashed,
stranger to Washington and native alike,
learned that they could no longer descend upon
that poor, helpless babe, and pat its cheeks,
and pinch its little ears, and cover it with kisses,
and generally maul it around — this same in-
telligent public jumped at the conclusion that
there must be some reason, some terrible,
mysterious reason why it could not continue.
What could it be? Why was the child sud-

192 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

denly taken away from them? Why was
she kept within the South Grounds to which
the public was suddenly denied admission?
There could be onlv one answer for those mis-
guided women; and they leaped to the con-
clusion that Ruth Cleveland was a deaf mute.
If this were not enough, they also hinted that
her ears were malformed, and that there were
other reasons for her seclusion. And incred-
ible as it may seem, insinuations of such na-
ture were not lacking in a section of the
newspaper press which was making war on
the President and his political progranmie!

The interest aroused by the birth of a child
to ]Mr. and Mrs. Cleveland showed the af-
fectionate regard in wliich both were held by
the great majority of thinking people in the
country. One day the President received from
an unknown admirer a poem which was beau-
tifully printed upon a square of pink satin,
and as it may be of interest, so many years
later, I will reproduce it here;

MRS. CLEVELAND IN WHITE HOUSE 19S

ON THE BIRTH OF A GIRL BABY

TO
PRESIDENT CLEVELAND

In other lands, when unto ruler great

A child is born, the roar of cannons rise
And bells ring out in gladness to the skies,
And loyal hearts with joy exhilarate.

But here, with us, in this our grand estate.

No rousing peal from mouth of cannon flies.
No song of bells triumphing as it hies.
Nor hymn of man the birth will celebrate.

And yet, to-day, with our democracy,
A nation's heart pulses in sympathy;
A wordless wish, a silent, soul-felt prayer

Ascends on high, afar o'er earthly air, •
To Him, the Father ever kind and mild.
That he may guard the mother and the child!

Democrat.

I never knew who wrote this verse and sent it
to the President, and I doubt whether he ever
knew, either. But that was only one of many
presents that were sent to Mr. Cleveland while
he occupied the White House. Another trib-
ute came to him later on from a tailor in
Pottsville, Perm. I opened the box containing
this tribute, and found it to be a full-dress

IM BIEM<»IES C9 THE WUfTK HOUSE

suit — trauacTs, low-cut ivmistooBt, and " iwal-
low-tul " cotA — endently mtended to fit Mr.
derdand, and made up of hundreds of
pieces of doth of all kinds and colors and
shades; long strips and durt; p«tdiea> three-
cornered luts, round mes, oblcMig, square, dia-
nKmd-shaped — in fact tiiat suit of clothes
would have made half a doxen coats for a
modem Joseph; and, as a whole, it was one of
the most extraordinary products of the art
sartorial Aat could be conccsred bjr mortal
mind. What became of it evoitually I do not
remembw, but my strraig im|H«saon is that
the Presidoit of the United States never wore
it in public.

Not long after Mrs. Cleveland first came to
the White House, she instituted a series of
rather informal receptions, held on Saturday
afternoons, to which the ladies in Washington
were invited. I am sure that those who at-
tended, and thus had opportunity for meet-
ing their lovely young hostess, have not
forgotten these semi-public affairs. But only
a few had been held when one of those in
official position in Washington, very mindful

MRS. CLEVELAND IN VmiTE HOUSE 195

of the dignity of Kfe and the importance of the
President's wife, approached Mrs. Cleveland,
and urged that the Saturday afternoons be
given up.

" For what reason? " asked the President's
wife,

" Well, you see," said the official, " about
half of all the women who came Saturday after-
noon are clerks from the department stores
and others — a great rabble of shop-girls. And
of course a White House afternoon is not in-
tended for them."

" Indeed! " remarked Mrs. Cleveland, some-
what surprised. " And if I should hold the
little receptions some afternoon other than
Saturday, they couldn't attend, because they
have to work all the other afternoons. Is
that it?"

" Certainly," the official replied, delighted
to think how easily he had accomplished his
purpose. " That 's it exactly."

He was somewhat surprised not long after-
ward to learn that Mrs. Cleveland had given
orders that nothing should interfere with her
Saturday afternoon receptions, so long as there

196 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

were any store clerks, or other seJf -supporting
women and girls, who wished to come to the
Wtite House and meet her on that day of the
M'eek. She knew intuitively what a treat it
was to those women and girls.

It was tliis quality of sympathy that made
Mrs. Cleveland's life in the White House so
rieh a memory. I never knew her to make a
mistake of social nature hut once; and then it
was shared by so many others that I may be
pardoned for rejjeating it in public print. I
know the httle story is true, for I was present
at the time, and heard it all. At one of the
President's formal receptions a man named
Decker appeared, and as he drew near the
receiving line he told Colonel Wilson in con-
fidence that his name was such an easy one it
could not be mistaken or mispronounced.
AVhereupon Colonel Wilson presented him.

" Happy to meet you, Mr. Cracker," said
the President.

" Happy to meet you, Mr. Baker," said
Mrs. Cleveland.

" Mr. Sacker," murmured Miss Bayard
doubtfully.

MRS. CLEVELAND IN WHITE HOUSE 197

" Happy to meet you, Mr. Black," Mrs.
Whitney remarked with cahn confidence.

A few minutes later Mr. Decker was said to
be looking at one of his visiting-cards to see
what his name really was.

I shall not forget the morning of March 4,
1889, when President Cleveland turned over
the White House to his successor, General
Harrison. One of the best known employees
in the building was old Jerry Smith, who had
been Grant's footman, who had remained in
the White House ever since, and still was one
of the most magnificent specimens of man-
hood the colored race has produced. In ad-
dition to his splendid appearance, he had the
manner of a courtier, and a strong person-
ality that could not be overlooked by any one,
high or low. Early in the morning just re-
ferred to I went up to the living-rooms of the
President's family to say good-bye to Mrs.
Cleveland ; and as I approached she was com-
ing out of her door into the corridor, where
stood old Jerry, erect as a grenadier, holding
her handbag and waiting to escort her to her
carriage. As I drew near, I heard her say:

108 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

" Xow, Jeny, I want you to take good care
of all the furniture and ornaments in the house,
and not let any of them get lost or broken,
for I want to find everything just as it is now,
when we come back again."

" Excuse meh. Mis' Cleveland," Jerry re-
sponded, with a slight gasp of astonishment,
" but jus' when does you-all expec' to come
back, please, — so I can have everything
ready, I mean? "

" We are coming back just four years from
to-day," she replied, smiling confidently. And
her prophecy was fulfilled.

It was four years from that morning —
on March 4, 1893 — that I received a request
from Colonel Lamont to go to the Arlington
Hotel, and take charge of Mr. Cleveland's
family, and bring them to the White House.
At the appointed time I had a carriage at the
Arlington, and into it entered Mrs. Cleve-
land, more charming than ever, baby Ruth,
and the nurse. Neither the baby nor Mrs.
Cleveland seemed at all excited, but the nurse
was less composed, and while stepping into
the carriage with Ruth in her arms, she missed

MRS. CLEVELAND IN WHITE HOUSE 199

her footing and fell forward rather heavily.
Fortunately I was where I could pick the wo-
man up, unhurt, and as Ruth had bounced
from her arms and had landed on one of the
seats, she, too, was none the worse for the
adventure.

Colonel Lamont and his two children, Bessie
and Juha, also entered the carriage, and all
were driven to the White House. A rope had
been thrown across one of the streets to keep
back the crowd, but it was soon taken down
to allow the distinguished party to pass, and
they arrived at the Executive Mansion some
fifteen minutes before noon. At Mrs. Cleve-
land's request the baby was taken upstairs at
once, and she herself made ready to go to
the Capitol to see her husband's second inau-
guration. Shortly thereafter Mr. and Mrs.
Cleveland resumed their family Ufe in the
White House, quite as if it had not been inter-
rupted for four years.

One of the events that occurred during the
second Cleveland administration was the cele-
bration of old Jerry Smith's silver wedding.
When Mr. and Mrs. Cleveland came back to

too MEMOBISS OF THE WHTTE HOUSE

the White House, Jeny did not seem at all
surprised. He seemed to think their return
was predestined I^ some power hi^er than
we mortals, aad he had fully expected them
to come hack ever since Mrs. Clevdand made
her prophetic remark. Jerry was supersti-
tious in many things, hut in placing Mrs.
Cleveland far above the average of human-
ity he showed not supra^tition hut comnum
sense. Yet even her presence in the Execu-
tive Mansion could not quiet all of his qualms
ahout spirits of evil and like dangers that he
was sure liarked in dark comers, and espe-
dally on the attic floor of the White House
which, until a fe^7 years ago, had always been
used as an enormous wine-closet. Perhaps
the presence of real spirits — in liquid form —
in that dark, musty, dusty old attic gave rise
to his belief that there existed also intangible
spirits of quite a different kind; for nothing
under heaven would persuade the old man in
his later years, to go to the attic floor, espe-
cially after dark.

He believed in ghosts as firmly as he believed
in hving persons ; one was as real to him as the

MRS. CLEVELAND IN WHITE HOUSE 201

other. And he was always seeing or hearing
the ghosts of former deceased Presidents hov-
ering around in out-of-the-way corners, espe-
cially in deep shadows at sundown or later;
and these, he asserted, felt they had a right to
come around and " ha'nt " their former sur-
roundings. At any rate he never questioned
their right, being perfectly willing to let them
do whatever they wished, if they 'd only be so
good as to let him alone.

For many, many years this fine old negro
had raised and lowered the White House
flag — at sunrise and sundown — regarding
the ceremony as being particularly important,
and in a way symbolical of his own religious
and patriotic feelings, which were very closely
merged.

One evening, when he lowered the Stars and
Stripes, he disappeared from the house, quite
unexpectedly; and when he was gone, we all
remembered that this was the evening of his
Silver Wedding! At the time he lived in his
little home on Church Street, between Six-
teenth and Seventeenth streets — the same lit-
tle home that he had bought many years pre-

202 liEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

vious at the urging of Mrs. Grant, who was so
anxious to have all of her servants acquire
homes while Washington real estate was low-
priced. And to that home, that evening,
wended a procession of dignitaries such as
never before had graced its precincts. Every
one who came to the White House during
Jerry's service there of nearly a quarter of a
century, knew the old man, and thoroughly
liked him. So great was the general regard
that not merely clerks and assistant secretaries
went to his silver wedding, but one carriage
after another drove up to his door, containing
Cabinet Officers and members of the Diplo-
matic Corps. These officials did not enter his
home, as a rule, but sent in to him and his aged
wife some personal gift appropriate to the oc-
casion. You may be sure that Mrs. Cleve-
land remembered the faithful old servitor.

When I entered the little parlor — spick
and span as could be — Jerry came forward to
greet me and present to me his wife, with the
air of Lord Chesterfield receiving an honored
guest. Jerry was arrayed not exactly in fine
linen alone, but in his most magnificent gar-

MRS. CLEVELAND IN WHITE HOUSE 203

ments, and Mrs. Smith was by his side, as
happy and proud as he, although she was very
quietly dressed. After the presentation to her,
Jerry drew me aside, and said confidentially :

" Kuhnel, the greates' satisfaction I has is
the way all theseyeh other niggehs in th' neigh-
bo'hood feel about thisyeh silvah weddin'. They
was that envious they couldn't rest when
they heahd about it, fust off; an' now, since
th' representatives of th' mightiest powehs of
all Christendom Ve been drivin' down yeah
with fine bosses, and coachmen an' footmen,
to do me honah as one of th' President's Of-
fishul Fambly, theseyeh niggehs 's ready to
cut meh heaht out, an' kill me deddeh 'n a dooh-
nail, they 's that jealous, Sub."

I think Jerry enjoyed this triumph as much
as he enjoyed the heap of silver dollars piled
up on the center-table in his little parlor, and
the heap kept increasing in size and value as
long as the guests continued to arrive.

The family life of the second Cleveland ad-
ministration was like the first in most ways ex-
cepting that there was more than one baby to
make glad the heart of the President and his

206 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

that which to most young people is the crownr
ing feature; a beautiful, tall, graceful tre^
laden with gifts and ornaments, shimmeripg
with candles, perhaps, or bowing and swaying
under the weight of numberless pretfy devices
and glittering baubles.

Cold though he appeared to most people
and indifferent, President Harrison nevertfae*
less was warm-hearted and sympathetic t0
those who knew him well. He had a merry
side to his nature, and with it the love of child-
hood that is almost always its accompaniment.
Mrs. Harrison, too, was warm-hearted, loving
to give others happiness, devoted to her chil-
dren, and almost idolizing her grandchildren
— as is not imeommon with grandmothers,
whether they live in the White House, or in
the humblest cottage. Therefore it was almost
inevitable, imder the circumstances, that the
first Christmas season under General Harri-
son's presidency should see a tree set up for
the delight and delectation of the children in
whom so much of his thought was centered.

In addition to the President and Mrs. Harri-
son, there were in the White House at the time

VII

THE WHITE HOUSE FAMILY OF
PRESIDENT HARRISON

The first Christmas tree that ever lifted up its
gift-laden green in the White House was
placed there during the administration of Pres-
ident Harrison — and in my memories of many
years' service within the walls of the Executive
JMansion, this stands out as one of the pleas-
antest. There had been plenty of young
people there during previous administrations
from Lincoln's down through Johnson's,
Grant's, Hayes's, Garfield's, Arthur's, Cleve-
land's — and plenty of excuse for a Christ-
mas tree as each December came around with
its season of joyousness and generosity of
spirit ; yet, for some reason that I have never
been able to understand, one Christmas after
another came and .went, with every remem-
brance and observance of the day excepting

205

FAMILY OF PRESIDENT HARRISON 207

Mr. and Mrs. Russell B. Harrison and their
little daughter; Mr. and Mrs. James Robert
McKee and their two children, Benjamin Har-
rison McKee (better known to the public as
" Baby McKee " ) , aged about two years, and
his sister Mary, who was about a year younger.
Mrs. Harrison's niece, Mrs. Mary Scott Dim-
mick, also was there, if memory serves; and
Mrs. Harrison's father, the Reverend Doc-
tor Scott, then an aged man. So there were
plenty of all sizes and years to make the most
of the Christmas season, and they did so
right royally.

For days before the one great day, the chil-
dren grew more and more excited as to coming
events, telling each other what they hoped
Santa Claus would bring them, running in and
out with important, confidential messages and
questions to parents, grandparents, uncles,
and aunts, and generally infusing a spirit that
was infectious to all who breathed its atmos-
phere. Then, late in the afternoon of the day
before Christmas, they suddenly foimd the
doors closed and locked which led into the
great circular library. They hovered aroimd,

208 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

wondering what it all meant, until taken away
on one pretext or another; but they never
guessed that Pfister, head gardener of the
White House, was inside that enchanted cham-
ber, with a force of expert assistants, who
were putting up the most beautiful and perfect
tree that could be found in all the country.

Somehow the afternoon passed, supper was
disposed of, and Christmas Eve stories were
told while stockings were being hung up ; and
at last the little people drowsily went to bed,
still wondering, still hoping that they might
wake up late at night, at just the moment when
dear old Santa would be coming down the
chimney. Long after they were asleep Pfister
and his men, and a good many more — includ-
ing the President of the United States himself
— were working like beavers within that
library ; and it was quite late when the tree was
in place, and dressed, and hung with countless
gifts.

I saw it Christmas morning, as did others
in the Executive Office who had been invited
to be present ; and it was truly the most beau-
tiful I have ever seen, before or since. From

FAMILY OF PRESIDENT HARRISON 209

topmost point to the floor it was laden with
decorations, with toys innumerable for the chil-
dren, and with gifts for the older ones. And
Mrs. Harrison had made sure that each mem-
ber of her husband's office staflP was remem-
bered with a personal token. I, for example,
received a dainty little book from her, with
her good wishes. In addition to the family
gifts, the library held a multitude of presents
of every imaginable kind, from scores if not
hundreds of persons, friends and strangers —
or comparative strangers — aUke; for at the
Christmas season the President and his house-
hold are very widely remembered.

I have often wished that those who some-
times called President Harrison " a human
iceberg," could have seen him at that time, and
at many another time when he threw aside
official reserve. For he truly was a man who
enjoyed his family and his intimates to a
marked degree. Although he and Mrs. Har-
rison made no pretension of social superiority
they were well educated, accustomed to the
best of society, and were wholly at ease wher-
ever they might be. A frequent visitor at the

210 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

White House while in the Senate, General
Harrison felt no strangeness of surroundings
when he came there as President, and his fam-
ily life moved along smoothly from the first.
Owing to his stoutness he did not look as tall
as he really was, and perhaps for this reason
he wore a silk hat and a frock coat when
weather conditions permitted. Always digni-
fied, with keen eyes that never wavered, with
his military habit of command, it was only
natural that those who did not know President
Harrison well should have thought him ex-
tremely cold, reserved, unconmiunicative con-
cerning his plans and purposes.

When he came to the White House, on
March 4, 1889, he found that Mrs. Cleveland
had prepared a luncheon for his family, and
that everything was in readiness for their occu-
pancy of the great mansion. A number of
personal friends were present at this first meal
in the Executive Mansion, and they made a
merry party, when to them were added mem-
bers of the President's family. At that time
Russell B. Harrison, the President's son, was
a man in the early thirties, and while a visitor

FAMILY OF PRESIDENT HARRISON 211

at frequent intervals, yet he did not reside with
his parents in Washington, as did Mr. and Mrs.
McKee, Mrs. Dimmick, a charming young
widow of thirty, I should say, and the Rever-
end Doctor Scott. As a matter of fact, next to
the President himself, perhaps the most widely
known member of the White House family
was Baby McKee. As soon as General Har-
rison had been nominated for the presidency,
throngs of people flocked to Indianapolis from
all over the country. Little Ben, who had been
born in his grandfather's house on March 15,
1887, was a very lively youngster, and as such
was much in evidence about his grandfather's
home. The visitors to Indianapolis, in the
summer of 1888, used to see him on the porch,
or in the grounds, and fell into the habit of
saying to each other:

" Oh, there 's General Harrison's grandson.
Baby McKee!"

The phrase was at once taken up by news-
paper correspondents who had been sent to
Indianapolis to " keep tabs " on the Republican
nominee, and within forty-eight hours " Baby
McKee " became famous — such fame as it

2ie MEMORIES OP THE WHITE HOUSE

was. Columns were written about him and
his appearance, and what he ate or did n't eat,
and what lie wore, and how he was taken care
of. For some reason the American people
seem dearly to love unimportant details con-
cerning prominent persons, and they certainly
were furnished frith enough of them by the
papers, in this instance. The family, however,
did not call the boy " Baby BIcKee." To
them, especially to his dignified grandfather,
he was always " Benjamin," or sometimes
" Ben." But he answered as readily to one as
to the other. As he grew older, during Gren-
_ eral Harrison's presidency, be developed a
taste for printing, and he had, even as a little
boy, a small printing outfit at the White House
with which he used to turn out cards and circu-
lars of all kinds.

If there was one comrade in the world whom
President Harrison enjoyed being with, it was
Uttle Ben. In the privacy of the living-rooms,
upstairs, he used to romp with the little fellow
whenever opportunity presented itself; and
often he would take Ben by the hand, and they
would gravely start off for a walk through the

FAMILY OF PRESIDENT HARRISON 213

grounds of the Executive Mansion, or down
Pennsylvania Avenue; and thousands whom
they met would stop and look after the wee
little man, holding so tightly to the hand of the
stout, dignified, elderly gentleman, who wore
a silk hat and a long frock coat, and who occu-
pied one of the most exalted positions that
mortal man may attain.

While residing at the White House, Presi-
dent Harrison and his wife usually attended
service in the Church of the Covenant, perhaps
the leading Presbyterian Church of Washing-
ton, and at that time under the pastorate of the
Reverend Doctor Hamlin. They went to
church as they went elsewhere, with the utmost
simplicity, and with no outward distinction
from any others who were wending their way
thither. They did not give evidence of such
positive interest in religious matters as Presi-
^ dent and Mrs. Hayes had given, but I am
•" sure they were, nevertheless, deeply interested
f in all that good works could accomplish.
^ As a general thing one of the first duties that
^ the wife of an incoming President has to at-
^ tend to, and one which she usually enjoys

«12 MEMORIES OF THE HHITE HOUSE

was. Columns were written about him and
his appearance, and what he ate or did n't eat,
and what he wore, and how he was taken care
of. For some reason the American people
seem dearly to love unimportant details con-
cerning prominent persons, and they certainly
were furnished with enough of them by the
papers, in this instance. The family, however,
did not call the boy " Baby McKee." To
them, especially to Iiis dignified grandfather,
he was always " Benjamin," or sometimes
" Ben." But he answered as readily to one as
to the other. As he grew older, during Gen-
eral Harrison's presidency, he developed a
taste for printing, and he had, even as a little
boy, a small jirinting outfit at the White House
with which he used to turn out cards and circu-
lars of all kinds.

If there was one comrade in the world whom
President Harrison enjoyed being with, it was
little Ben. In the privacy of the living-rooms,
upstairs, he used to romp with the little fellow
whenever opportunity presented itself; and
often he would take Ben by the hand, and they
would gravely start off for a walk tlu-ougb the

FAMILY OF PRESIDENT HAHRISON 213

While residing at the White House, Presi-
dent Harrison and his wife usually attended
service in the Church of the Covenant, perhaps
the leading Presbyterian Church of Washing-
ton, and at that time under the pastorate of the
Reverend Doctor Hamlin. They went to
church as they went elsewhere, with the utmost
simplicity, and with no outward distinction
from any others who were wending their way
thither. They did not give evidence of such
positive interest in religious matters as Presi-
dent and Mrs. Hayes had given, but I am
sure they were, nevertheless, deeply interested
in all that good works could accomplish.

As a general thing one of the first duties that
the wife of an incoming President has to at-
tend to, and one which she usually enjoys

SU MEMOKIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

was. Columns were written about him and
his appearance, and wlmt he ate or did n't eat,
and what he wore, and how he was taken care
of. For some reason the American people
seem dearly to love unimportant details con-
cerning prominent persons, and they certainly
were furnished with enough of them by the
papers, in this instance. The family, however,
did not caU the boy " Baby McKee." To
them, especially to his dignified grandfather,
he was always *' Benjamin," or sometimes
" Ben." But he answered as readily to one as
to the other. As he grew older, dui-ing Gen-
eral Harrison's presidency, he developed a
taste for printing, and he had, even as a little
boy, a small printing outfit at the White House
with which he used to turn out cards and circu-
lars of all kinds.

If there was one comrade in the world whom
President Harrison enjoyed being with, it was
httle Ben. In the privacy of the living-rooms,
upstairs, he used to romp with the little fellow
whenever opportunity presented itself; and
often he would take Ben by the hand, and they
would gravely start oflf for a walk through the

FAMILY OF PRESIDENT HAHRISON 213

While residing at the White House, Presi-
dent Harrison and his wife usually attended
service in the Church of the Covenant, perhaps
the leading Presbyterian Church of Washing-
ton, and at that time under the pastorate of the
Reverend Doctor Hamlin. They went to
church as they went elsewhere, with the utmost
simplicity, and with no outward distinction
from any others who were wending their way
thither. They did not give evidence of such
positive interest in religious matters as Presi-
dent and Mrs. Hayes had given, but I am
sure they were, nevertheless, deeply interested
in all that good works could accomplish.

As a general thing one of the first duties that
the wife of an incoming President has to at-
tend to, and one which she usually enjoys

in MEMORIES OP THE WHITE HOUSE

was. Columns were written about him and
his appearance, and what he ate or did n't eat,
and what he wore, and how he was taken care
of. For some reason the American people
seem dearly to love unimportant details con-
cerning prominent persons, and they certainly
were furnished with enough of them by the
papers, in this instance. The family, however,
did not call the boy "Baby McKee." To
them, especially to his dignified grandfather,
he was always " Benjamin," or sometimes
" Ben." But he answered as readily to one as
to the other. As he grew older, during Gen-
eral Harrison's presidency, he developed a
taste for printing, and he had, even as a little
boy, a small printing outfit at the White House
with which he used to turn out cards and circu-
lars of all kinds.

FAMILY OP PRESIDENT HAHRISON 213

While residing at the White House, Presi-
dent Harrison and his wife usually attended
service in the Church of the Covenant, perhaps
the leading Presbyterian Church of Washing-
ton, and at that time under the pastorate of the
Reverend Doctor Hamlin. They went to
church as they went elsewhere, with the utmost
simplicity, and with no outward distinction
from any others who were wending their way
thither. They did not give evidence of such
positive interest in religious matters as Presi-
dent and Mrs. Hayes had given, but I am
sure they were, nevertheless, deeply interested
in all that good works could accomplish.

As a general thing one of the first duties that
the wife of an incoming President has to at-
tend to, and one which she usually enjoys

FAMILY OP PRESroENT HARRISON 219

and to stay away from the White House. But
from long habit I went over to the office each
Sunday morning, for fear that something
might arise for which I would be needed. And
one Sunday — it was May 12, 1889 — I foimd
there Mr. Frank Tibbett, an expert stenogra-
pher whom General Harrison had brought on
from Indianapolis, and Miss Alice B. Sanger,
another stenographer, and the only woman ever
employed in such capacity at the White House.
Miss Sanger, a very charming young woman,
was exceedingly competent in her work, and
still is in government employ. Well, I had not
been long in the office, that May Sunday, when
Mrs. Harrison entered, accompanied by two
grandchildren, Benny and Mary McKee. She
carried a quantity of beautiful flowers as
gifts, and soon afterward Mrs. McKee came
into the room, bringing a basket filled with
delicious oranges for those whom she found
there. I am quite sure she did not know of
Mrs. Harrison's intentions, nor Mrs. Harrison
of hers. But they were always doing things
of that kind — remembering others, and trying
to make life bright and happy.

2«0 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

It used to be a saying in Washington that
President Harrison would go down on his
knees to only one person — little Ben, whom
he thought more of than any one else, I think,
excepting his wife. And this casual saying
proved to be true in one instance that I recall,
which happened at about noon of June 2, 1889.
I happened to be walking rapidly through a
corridor when I saw the President just ahead
of me, carrj^ng his grandson in his arms. In
going down the last of three steps General
Harrison made a misstep and fell forward, but
although down on his knees he managed so as
to have his arms break the fall, and guarded
Ben from being hurt. The President at once
picked himself up, and went on, still carrying
his precious burden; and neither of them so
much as uttered a syllable of exclamation. The
President probably thought that words would
do no good, and httle Ben was accustomed to
think that everji:hing liis grandfather did was
right, anyhow — tumbles included.

President Harrison's administration was
connected with an unusual nimiber of tragic
occurrepces, which deeply affected all those

FAMILY OF PRESIDENT HARRISON 221

in any intimate way connected with the White
House. Invitations for the last of the state
dinners of the season had been issued for the
sixth of February, 1890, and of her prepara-
tions had been completed, when came the un-
expected death of Secretary Blaine's daughter,
on Sunday, February 2. This was a severe
shock, needless to say; and the dinner invita-
tions were at once ordered withdrawn. But
before this could be accomplished, on the very
next day, February 3, the entire country was
startled by the awful news of the burning of
Secretary Tracy's residence, and the death of
his wife and daughter and French, maid, and
his own narrow escape.

The President had made an appointment
to be present in New York City on February
4, to participate in the centennial celebration
of the organization of the Supreme Court of
the United States. And so urgently was his
presence desired that a committee from New
York called at the White House and tried to
insist that he keep the engagement; but he
refused to go. The terrible aflBictions so sud-
denly visited upon two of his Cabinet OflScers

28« MEMORIES OF THE WTIITE HOUSE

affected him seriously; and he was m constant
attendance upon them both, doing all in his
power not merely to show his sympathy, but
to give practical assistance.

The tragedy in Secretary Tracy's household
occurred early in the niornmg of Monday, and
during that day the bodies of Mrs. Tracy and
of her daughter were brought to the White
House, where they were placed in the East
Room, under the great chandelier, being con-
stantly guarded by a doorkeeper. During
that day and the day following many friends
called at the White House, carrying flowers,
which Mrs. Harrison and Mrs. McKee ar-
ranged with their own hands over and about
their dead friends, who bad so suddenly, and
in such an awful way, been called from this
life.

On Wednesday morning the funeral ser-
vices were held. Although all the seats that
could be placed in the East Room had been
provided, jxt the room was taxed to its ut-
most capacity with relatives and personal
friends of the mother and daughter. At eleven
o'clock all who were to be present had arrived,

FAMILY OF PRESIDENT HARRISON 223

and the choristers slowly paced along the great
corridor from the western end of the building
to the East Room, where they took their sta-
tion, and the services proceeded. To me, who
had seen so much of gayety and grandeur and
impressive ceremony in that magnificent apart-
ment, during so many years, this was a
strangely tragic sight. As the choristers
started to sing " Jesus, Lover of My Soul,"
many of those present joined with them, or
tried to; but a large number were so deeply
affected that they could not take part in the
music. The climax was reached when " Rock
of Ages, Cleft for Me " was sung. By this
time the great audience had itself under better
control ; and almost every one, from President,
Vice-president, Cabinet Members, and other
dignitaries, down to the least important, joined
in the singing. The last lines had just been
reached, however, when a realization of the
horror of the tragedy seemed to surge again
through all minds and hearts. Suddenly one
of the little choir boys turned white, swayed
slightly, and sank to the floor, fainting. He
was immediately carried out and tenderly cared

l.if; MKMOH

;iii(l rapiilly
Ilniisc, ten
iccnlkrl the
Ikmincs, an<I i
in>>' quail aiK
isjKrially th«
arnurid in tli
intr in the
rahhits.

C(»K»neI ]
made exceli
anil in the v
wniihl pratli
mounted ai
The s»-iiests
\]x wnnds
the well-t

:u -ii-tunie-
::i:*iners >v

,-..:ne ho!

1 . o

ti' r!rt- :'•

«M HEUOBIES OF TH£ WHITE HOl^

I for. Instaitly the Fresident juiced keoily
' at bis afflii;ted Cabinet Officer; and quickly
stepped across to him, placing a hand an his
arm, and by words of i^inpathy tried to cahn
"kam. The tenskm was so great by this time
that none were sorry that the services were
closing. The bereaved husband and fatiier,
still leaning on the President's arm, followed
the mortal remains of wife and daughter as
they were borne outward from the East Room
to the doorway of the White House, and as
they were being placed in the hearse he turned
away and wait up to the room that had been
proviiled for him in the Executive Mansion.

The birthday anniversary of little Ben Har-
rison McKee came only a fortnight after the
events recorded above, and at about noon of
March 15, he made a visit to the office force,
holding tightly to his mother's hand. The bttle
fellow came on a very special errand, which
was to present to each of us, with his compli-
ments, a piece of bis birthday cake. As soon as
this was accompUshed, Ben chmbed up on a
chair and amused himself for nearly an hourj
trying to use a typewriter, his mother mean-

FAMILY OF PRESIDENT HARRISON 225

while remaining there and chatting with some
of us.

It had always been a matter of great satis-
faction with me that all of the children of the
White House, during the many administra-
tions I have served, felt that they were welcome
in the Executive OflSces, and never hesitated
to come there whenever they wanted to do so.
I remember one day when Mrs. Harrison, hav-
ing her grandchildren with her, was making a
tour of the White House, showing it to a
friend, a Mrs. Findley of Baltimore. The
little people, as often happened, were making
a good deal of noise, laughing, and skylarking
as little ones will — and should ! — but as soon
as they reached the doors of the busy office they
became quiet. They came over to my desk for
a chat, and had not been there long when the
President entered.

" I thought I heard children's voices at my
door a Uttle while ago," he said. " Where are
they? "

Peering this way and that, as if he did not
see them, he chuckled away down in his beard
— as jolly grandfathers sometimes will — and

226 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

then, without warning, stooped down and kissed
Mary McKee on the back of her phimp, white
little neck. To the surprise of every one Mary
did not seem to appreciate tliis salutation; and
vigorously wiping one small hand across her
neck as if to wipe away the kiss, she exclaimed :

" Stop, grandpa! That is Cousin Marin's
place to kissl "

She was so in earnest, and withal so indig-
nant, that the grown-ups who were there could
not hut burst into a shout of laughter; but the
little maid ^v'as soon molhfied, and went out as
happy as she had come in.

The very next day after this occurrence
Colonel Lamont's children and their mother
made a visit to the \VTiite House, where they
had not been for two years. In that short
space of time Bessie, and " Midge," as we
once called her, had grown out of their baby-
hood, and had become very pretty little girls,
while the baby of the I^amont household, Fran-
cis, who had been born during the last year of
Cleveland's Presidency, was two years old or
more, and talked as prettily — in " baby talk,"
of course — as ever a baby did. On the day

FAMILY OF PRESroENT HARRISON 227

referred to, March 31, 1891, they came to the
White House to see Baby McKee and his
little sister Mary. Lizzie, the old nurse of the
Lamont family, was with them, and mightily
pleased I was, you may be sure, when word
was brought that the little visitors wanted to
see Colonel Crook. I went downstairs as soon
as I could, and found them seated in all dignity
and magnificence, in the great East Room. It
was very funny, as well as very cunning, to
see the two mites of humanity gravely en-
sconced in that magnificent, spacious room,
but I greeted them with all our old-time friend-
liness, and they soon forgot their imimediate sur-
roundings, and became fellow playmates again
of the elderly man who was so glad to see
them. After a little talk the youngsters asked
to be shown through the parlors, and I took
them from one room to another with all the
dignity I could muster on such short notice
and under such circumstances, leaving them in
the Blue Room, while I went in quest of Mrs.
Harrison, to inform her of the visitors. When
she learned that Colonel Lamont's children
were there to call on Ben and Mary, she said:

228 MEHfOBIBS OF THE WHITE HOI^E

" Bring them upstairs at once. Colonel, if
you kindly will," So I returned to my little
friends, and went upstairs with them, carrying
baby Frinds in my arms. At the nursery
dtxtr we vere met by Mrs. Harrison, who took
theui inside and introduced them to her grand-
children. Ben at once perceived that it was
his duty to act as host, and he hurried around,
placing chuTS for the guests. There was a
dead silence for a moment after they were
seated. Then Mary Mc Kee went up to Fran-
cis, and >md:

" I 'm ^lad to see you."
"How many doUs 've you got?" Francis
inquired.

Mary did not reply, but started off to get
these, her choicest treasures, and soon brought
out and exhibited the French doll, the German
doll, the American doll, and many others.
Finally, to crown the exhibit, she brought the
talking-doll, and made it " speak its piece "
to the delight of all ijrcsent.

After this marvelous dolly had been care-
fully put away, ^Mrs. Harrison sent for
some biscuits — wonderf id biscuits they were,

FAMILY OF PRESroENT HARRISON 229

too, good to eat, plenty of them, and all made
to represent chickens. The visitors and their
host and hostess were very busy for some little
time after this, but at last the final vestige of
crisp cake was consumed, and Ben, stepping
to Bessie and " Midge " and Baby Francis,
gravely gave his hand to each in turn. Where-
upon, naturally, good-byes were said.

" I hope you will all call again," remarked
Ben, in his distinguished grandpapa's most
dignified manner. To which little Francis
lisped: " Thank you."

Then the impromptu party broke up. And
as Colonel Lamont's three little ones sedately
walked downstairs to the main entrance of
the White House, I said to myself that if some
older people in high position, who occasionally
visited the White House during one adminis-
tration or another, could have witnessed the
simplicity of these children, they would have
learned a lesson in social etiquette.

The day before Christmas, 1892, a well-
known physician, Doctor Gardener, was sum-
moned to the White House, to see Russell Har-
rison's httle daughter, who was ill; and when

230 MEMORIES OF THE WBTTE HOVSE

he left the sick-room he said she wag suffoing
from a light form of scarlet fever. As may be
imagined, this was a startling statonent, aot
merely for parents and grandparents to hear,
but for every one of the large force who were
compelled to be in the Executive Mansion day
after day. Kot a moment was lost in taking
measures to prevent tiie spreading of the dis-
ease, especially because of Ben and little Mary
McKee. Bilrs. Russell Harrison had been oc-
cupj-ing the room formerly used by President
Arthur and President Cleveland, and in that
room the child was quarantined. So com-
pletely was it isolated from tiie rest of the
President's household that only by means of
a relay of messengers could news be obtained
from the sick-room. For example, when Mrs.
Harrison sent an inquiry there, she gave it to
a messenger, who took it halfway down the
corridor until he nearly met another messenger,
to whom he repeated the inquiry, and this sec-
ond man sped further down the corridor to
the door of the sick-room, there repeating the
question. Some one inside the room would
give him the answer, and he would hurry back

FAMILY OF PRESIDENT HARRISON 231

with it until he came near the other messenger,
who would carry it to Mrs. Harrison without
having come in direct contact with patient,
nurse, or even his fellow-messenger.

Mr. Robert McKee had spent Christmas at
the White House, that year, with his wife and
children, and on December 28 he came to me
and said:

"Colonel, I am about to leave for New
York. Would you please tell one of the door-
keepers to tell the steward to tell Mr. Russell
Harrison's man to say to Mr. Harrison that I
am going up to the city, and ask whether I
can do anything for him there? "

I carried out the request, and in due time
word came back that Russell Harrison had
left for New York the night before. This may
give some idea of the isolation that was main-
tained. Mr. Harrison, of course, had not been
quarantined, but he kept away from others
of the President's household as a precaution-
ary measure.

In drawing near the close of my remem-
brances of the Harrison family life in the
White House, I feel it necessary to revert once

i^i MEMORIES OP THE WHITE HOUSE

more to an experience which has been suffered
by more occupants of the Executive Mansion
than most people are aware. I refer to the
keen sorrow, at times even the poignant an-
guish, felt by many a wife and mother and
daughter of one President or another as a
result of bitter attack by opposition newspa-
pers and men in opposing political parties
or factions. Nowadays we term as " muck-
rakers " the periodicals which attack this of-
ficial or that corporation, or the other policy,
with charges of dishonesty, with insinuations of
improper favoritism, with innuendo, even, of
personal profit in some transactions. The name
is new, that is all. My older readers will re-
member the assaults made upon the character
as well as the judgment of Lincoln. President
Johnson was the subject of impeachment pro-
ceedings, Grant was " followed into his grave,"
by political assailants. Few, indeed, have es-
caped fierce attack, ridicule, or worse. When
I look back over the past forty-six years in
the White House, and recall some of these
things, I do not wonder that many an able, bril-
liant man refuses to enter public life in this

FAMILY OF PRESroENT HARRISON 233

country, simply because he will not subject
himself and his family to such misery. It is
not for me to say whether any of the Presi-
dents whom I have served paid serious atten-
tion to the wide-sweeping tide of such assault
as is referred to ; but I know that many a wo-
man whose husband or son or father occupied
the most exalted position in the gift of the
American people, has grieved and sorrowed,
as few other women have been called upon to
do. And the wife of President Harrison was
no exception to the general rule.

One day, in the course of business, I found
myself in Mrs. Harrison's presence. That she
was suffering keenly needed no telling. She
had been reading some of the newspapers;
and as I approached she raised her eyes and
exclaimed :

" Oh, Colonel Crook, what have we done I "
Shocked at her appearance I said:
" I do not imder stand. Madam. What do
you mean? "

" What have we ever done,'' she exclaimed,
" that we should be held up to ridicule by
newspapers, and the President be so cruelly

«M lllBMOBIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

attacked, and even his little, helpless g»nd-
diildren be made fun of, for the coimtiy to
laugh at! ''

For a moment I did not know what ta reply;
and she continued':

** If this is the penalty for being President
of the United States, I hope the Grood Lord
will deliver my husband from any further
experience/*

As I left her, a few minutes later, I w<m-
dered, as I often have wondered since, whethar
the men who sit in their editorial rooms miles
away, framing up attacks, devising ridicule
and insinuation, have any idea of the merci-
less way their barbed arrows not only sink
into the hearts and souls of men whom the peo-
ple have chosen to represent them and who try
to represent them fairly and honestly, but also
tear and lacerate the loving, tender sympa-
thies of defenseless women, young and old,
whose cheeks are wet with hot tears when thej^
feel the wounds caused by those deadly shafts.

Any man in public office, be he President or
street-sweeper, who does wrong, or deals im-
justly, or is neglectful of the trust imposed in

FAMILY OF PRESIDENT HARRISON ^5

him, is open to fair criticism and honest cen-
sure. But I submit that it is cowardly, wicked,
cruel, for the press of this country to indulge
in such unwarranted assaults as have been all
too frequent ; to drag into their net for pubhc
exploitation and ridicule the women and chil-
dren of the President's family and to show
base disregard of the common decencies of life.
It was not so very long after the painful
interview with Mrs. Harrison, recorded above,
that she lay down in her frailty and weakness
in one of the rooms of the White House,
where she breathed her last between Monday
night, October 24, 1892, and the following
morning. A loving wife, a tender mother, an
ideal grandmother — she passed away in the
room made memorable by the sufferings of
Garfield. As far as possible, under the cir-
cumstances, the funeral services were private,
and interment was made in Indianapolis.

VIII

THE HOME LIFE OF McKINLEY
IN THE WHITE HOUSE

Through all of his long and busy public life,
William McKinley possessed — or was pos-
sessed by — two characteristics that set him
apart from abnost all other men of his gener-
ation because of their intensity. These char-
acteristics were unswerving devotion to his
country, and imceasing devotion to his wife,
all the more beloved because of her invalidism.
For many years the nation at large had had
reason good and sufficient to understand the
calibre and forcefulness of this man's patri-
otism — from that day in June, 1866, when
President Johnson signed, and Edwin M.
Stanton countersigned, his commission as Ma-
jor in the Army of the United States, McKin-
ley had been growing in stature, and in states-
manship. Twenty-two years later he made
a memorable address before the Republican

HOME LIFE OF McKINLEY 237

Club of New York, on the night of Lincobi's
birthday anniversary; and the newspaper re-
porters who heard his ringing words there, in
the old Delmonico's building, tingled as they
sent them flashing through the land, where
next morning they were read by three score
millions of people.

During Major McKinley's life in Washing-
ton as a member of the House of Representa-
tives, he resided in the Ebbitt House, well
known as the home of army and navy people;
and while those in the hotel knew how tenderly
he eared for his wife, yet this was not generally
understood, perhaps, imtil he gave his first
state dinner as President. These formal, pre-
cise, and elegant entertainments are by no
means an unimportant feature of any Presi-
dency. It is through them that Cabinet Mem-
bers, Supreme Court Justices, members of the
Diplomatic Corps, and other high and powerful
personages are welcome in the White House.
When a President gives a state dinner, not he
alone, but the whole people of the United
States are the hosts. The arrangement and
the seating of the guests vary according to

S38 MEMORIES OF THE WHTTE HOI^B

circumstances, and the tables acxxnninodate
thirty-six or fifty or even a larger number of
persons.

It had always been the unwrittoi, and, I
believe, the invariable custom for the President
to take out to dinner the wife of the Secretary
of State — the Chief of his Cabinet; and this
Secretary to have the honor of escorting to
table the wife of the Presidoit; or in her ab-
sence, whoever may be acting as the Lady of
the White House. Thus the Preudoit would
sit in the middle of one side of the table, and
I next to him the wife of the Secretary of State;
and the Secretary would sit opposite the
President, and at his side would be the Presi-
dent's wife. But the guests assembled for
McKinley's first diplomatic dinner noticed
that the President gave his aim to Mrs.
McKinley and escorted her to the state dining-
room. The President took his place as usual,
but first he himself carefully drew back the
chair at his right, and helped to a comfortable
seat therein the frail, sweet-faced httle woman
on whom he ever lavished the love and ten-
derness that filled his heart to overflowing.

HOME LIFE OF McKINLEY 239

From that hour until the last hour he spent
alive in the White House, Mrs. McKinley was
always at her husband's side in any public
affair, regardless of custom, precedent, or
tradition. And when he was falling to the
ground, that awful day in Buffalo, holding
his hands to the gaping wound in his side, he
found strength to murmur:

" She 's sleeping — break the news gently
to her."

Such was William McKinley, as man and
husband.

Because of his long residence in Washing-
ton, and his prominence in national affairs for
so many years. Major McKinley was familiar
with every phase of official life when came the
day of his inauguration. On Thursday, March
4, 1897, he drove to the Capitol in a landau
drawn by four horses, sitting on the left
of the outgoing President, Mr. Cleveland.
When he returned to the White House, after
having been inaugurated, their positions were,
as usual, reversed, the incoming President sit-
ting on the right of the outgoing. On the box
were the coachman and footman; dashing

240 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

ahead to make sure the way was clear, rode a
squad of mounted police; and surrounding the
carriage was a troop of cavalry — the famous
Bkck Horse Troop of Ohio, numbering
among its members in their brave imiforms,
Webb Hayes, a son of a former President.

Other specially invited members of the
I^esident's inaugural party followed close be-
hind him in other carriages, on the return to
the White House; and while these guests
were making merry, that beautiful day, in
corridors and the Green Room and the Red
Room, President McKinley and Mr. Cleve-
land went by themselves into the Blue Room,
where they spent a few minutes in quiet con-
versation. Both of them seemed to be very
happy; one at the prospect that he might
prove himself worthy of the trust placed in
him by the people who had elected him to the
most exalted office in their power; and the
other was equally elated, because he now saw
before him possible years of rest, of peaceful
life with his beautiful young wife and their
children; and I am sure that a great load was
lifted from his broad shoulders that very hour.

HOME LIFE OF McKINLEY 241

As they stood there in the Blue Room, bid-
ding good-bye to each other, Mr. Cleveland
caught a glimpse of me as I was hurrying past
in the corridor, and called me in.

" I want to say good-bye to you, also," he
said, putting forth his strong, right hand,
which I grasped for a moment. He added
kindly words as to what I had been able to do
for him during his two terms ; and I think he
took this opportunity, out of the goodness of
his heart, because he thought it might be bet-
ter than any formal recommendation he might
write to the new President. I am sure it ac-
complished the evident object; and I was so
surprised at his words that I could only respond
awkwardly, I fear, to his good wishes so ex-
pressed. The next moment he and President
McKinley were shaking hands in cordial fare-
well; for whatever their political differences,
yet each knew the true manhood of the other,
each knew that the other had fought not merely
hard, but fairly, for his principles; and that
is the kind of thing that makes inevitable re-
spect and admiration between true men of
even the most pronounced partisanship.

M8 MEMORIES QF THE WHITE HOUSE

" Good-by*^ Mr. President," sud d^fe-
land. " I wish you success iad happiness, fkh'
the next few years, and for many years to
come."

" Good-bye, Mr. Cleveland. With all my
lieart I wish you happiness and peace, and
joy — for jrou and yours."

For a single instant these two men stood
there, looking -into each other's eyes, smiling. ,
hopeful for the future, and confident. Then
they parted. Mr. Cleveland withdrawing from
the Blue Room with his accustomed impres-
sive di>gnity> Hardly had he done so when a
frail little lady, dressed in hlack, hurriedly
entered, exclaiming:

"Major! Major, where are you? . . . Ohl"
she added, with evident relief in her tones,
" there you are! We 'd better start now, the
luncheon is announced, and all are ready."

The President at once stepped forward,
and went with his wife to join the guests who
had assembled to welcome him to his new home.

There was nothing forgotten or left undone
at this first luncheon, in the White House of
President McKinley, for he had wisely decided

WiUiam McKinley and Mrs. McKinley at Senator Hanna's
residence, Cleveland, Ohio, Juljr SS, 1894

' 'i

HOME LIFE OF MclONLEY 243

to continue as steward a colored man, William
Sinclair, who had been steward during both of
the Cleveland administrations, and who served
Mr. Cleveland in Albany before his employer
was elected to the presidency. As soon as the
luncheon had been disposed of, the new Presi-
dent went to the great reviewing-stand, erected
in front of the White House and facing Penn-
sylvania Avenue, where he remained until the
parade was over. A pleasant, beautiful day it
was ; and this fact remains clearly in my mind
because the weather is so apt to be inclement at
that season. And we all hoped, in the Execu-
tive Office, that it might presage a calm, clear,
pleasant administration. Little did any of us
suspect that scarcely a year later the world was
to be startled by the blowing up of one of our
splendid war ships in a foreign harbor, and that
war, quickly following, would largely, if not
wholly, change our national attitude, would add
enormously to our responsibilities in remote
regions of the earth, and would be the final,
compelling reason for the immediate construc-
tion of a ghip canal across the Isthmus of
Panama.

244 MEMORIES OP THE WHITE HOUSE

When the parade was over, that afternoon
of Inauguration Day, President McKiiiley
returned to the White House, and passed me
as I was standing in the corridor. As he
reached the door of his office he paused, turned
shghtly, and said:

" Crook, will you come in with me? "

" Certainly, Mr. President," I responded.
" With gi'eat pleasure."

He passed into the office, and, taking a chair,
Esked me to be seated. Then he said;

" I intend to get right down to business
without delay, and as there is much to be done,
I want to speak with you about the personnel
of the office staff."

He paused long enough to light a fresh
cigar - — for he was a heavy smoker — and then
continued:

" In the first place, I wish to make as few
changes as possible. I do not want to make
any changes unless necessary for the good of
the service, and so I take the earliest oppor-
tunity to speak to you about the office staff."

Thereupon we entered into a discussion of
the whole matter ; he asked many questions re-

HOME LIFE OP McKINLEY 245

garding the office routine and the work of the
various men, which I answered carefully and
truthfully. At the end of half an hour he had
grasped the situation fully. Then I left him
and went back to my desk, more than satisfied
with the outcome. I had known Major Mc-
Kinley for many years, of course, and had al-
ways found him kindly, agreeable, courteous;
but I did not know until after that first inter-
view in the Executive Office, just what my re-
lations to him would be while he was President.
I found him absolutely unchanged; dignified,
always conscious of his influence, therefore,
careful of his words. But in no sense other than
the simple, true-hearted, American citizen he
had been from the day when I first laid eyes
on him, many years previous.

While President McKinley's immediate fam-
ily consisted only of himself and his wife, yet
his brother, Abner McKinley, and Mrs. Abner
McKinley, and their daughter Miss Mabel Mc-
Kinley, were frequent visitors at the White
House, as were such intimate friends as Gen-
eral Hastings of Pennsylvania, and Governor
Herrick of Ohio. The President's wife was

246 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

not an invalid in the sense that Mrs. Andrew
Johnson had heen; and while she never was
strong and well, when I knew her, yet she
generally was up and about the White House,
doing her part, in every way desirous of aiding
her husband so far as her physical disability
would permit.

When living in the White House she was
rather frail in appearance, and her hair was
turning gray. But the sweetness of her face,
and her eyes, showed that in her younger days
she must have been a very beautiful woman.
At the formal receptions she would take her
place by her husband's side, and there stand
with him at the head of the receiving-line as
long as her strength held out, after which she
would sit down; but she would remain close
to him until the affair was over.

There was little of real gayety in the White
House during President McKinley's residence
there, for several reasons. In the first place
he was a grave, serious-minded man, who had
been preoccupied with serious affairs for so
much of his life that he had never cultivated
the lighter side to any appreciable extent.

HOME LIFE OF McKINLEY 247

Then again, gayety, lightness, music, merri-
ment were foreign to his nature. Had he been
the father of lusty, growing children, all this
might have been altered; but he lived apart
from that one element of himian life which,
more than any other, keeps men and women
young, despite advancing years. Furthermore,
his wife's ill-health was a constant source of
anxiety to him, and because of her nervous
disorder she was physically unable to endure,
much less inspire in others, an atmosphere of
singing joyousness. Lastly, her husband was
the subject of fierce attack, growing more and
more bitter, on the part of opposing politicians
and newspapers, which in itself was sufficient
to crush to earth the spirits of any human be-
ing, no matter how laughter-loving by nature ;
and to this was added a full knowledge of the
conditions in Cuba, growing more terrible, it
seemed, month by month. Taken altogether,
it is no wonder that President McKinley's home
life in the White House was grave rather than
gay. Yet, when his niece. Miss Mabel McKin-
ley, visited there, she brought with her a re-
vivifying rush of good spirits and joyousness

248 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

that was most welcome. We all knew when
she had arrived, for soon after her coming she
would sit down at a piano, either in the Red
Room, or in the President's living-rooms up-
stairs, and her truly remarkable voice would
come rolling and swelling through the corri-
dors in a way that made most of those in the
office lay down their pens and listen intently.
The President and Mrs. McKinley usually
had friends for luncheon at one o'clock, or
shortly after; and Mrs. McKinley received her
intimate friends in her own reception room,
both in the morning and in the afternoon, when
she was not engaged in household duties, for
these she attended to punctiliously, notwith-
standing Iicr ill-hcalth. She did not go out as
much as wives of most other Presidents have
done, and she spent a great deal of her tinie
in reading; hut even more, I think, iti knitting
or sewing fancy articles, which she freely gave
away to be sold at church fairs all over the
country, or in other charitable ways. She was
unable to take active part in such affairs, but
she felt tliat she could do something in the
maimer alluded to, 1 have understood that the

HOME LIFE OF McKINLEY 249

articles made by the President's wife often sold
for a price that helped materially to swell the
receipts of various fairs. Her sister, Mrs. M.
C. Barber, of Canton, Ohio, was frequently a
visitor at the White House, but she was not
able to have many other house guests.

President McKinley, like his wife, always
dressed well, but neither of them had any ex-
pensive tastes that I am aware of. He was
quite content to drive every pleasant afternoon,
back of a span of horses that were good enough
roadsters for the average American gentleman
to possess, but which were by no means to be
compared with the matched teams of Grant,
or Harrison, or Cleveland. But Mr. McKin-
ley seemed to enjoy them as thoroughly as if
they had been the finest span from the Tsar's
stables. Beyond these daily drives in and about
Washington, and walks around the White
House grounds with his secretary, John Ad-
dison Porter, Mr. McKinley did not take much
exercise. He did not care for bilhards or golf
or tennis, or — so far as I ever knew — for
hunting or fishing.

One thing he thoroughly did enjoy, how-

250 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

ever, was a moderately good cigar; a fairly
good cigar, I mean, well made, of suitable size,
consisting principally of domestic leaf. For
expensive, choice, imported cigars he did not
care at all. AVhen he became President, and it
was expected that on certain occasions he would
have fine cigars to oflFer, he would pro\nde the
best that Havana could send to this country.
But he always had in a drawer of his desk a
box of his favorite brand, for his own personal
enjoyment; and the coimterpart of that box
was always kept open, day and night, at the
eigar-stand of the Ebbitt House, ready for him
should he happen to stop in at any moment.

Notwithstanding the fact that he was by
nature and custom serious and dignified, Pres-
ident McKinley was kindness itself to the
employees in his Executive Office. During his
entire presidency he never returned to the
city after an absence without stepping into
the office, waving his hand to the entire staff,
and saying, cordially :

" Gentlemen, I am glad to see you all again ! "
He never missed giving us this personal
greeting, from the day he entered the Exeeu-

4 I

(

HOME LIFE OF McKINLEY 251

tive Mansion as President until he left it for
the last time. Furthermore, notwithstanding
his dignity of demeanor, he was always ap-
proachable by any who had reason to call upon
him; and he always seemed to have time to
transact his business without being hurried. I
never saw him out of temper, or ruffled or
disturbed, even for an instant. Perhaps it was
because of his equable disposition, and his self-
control, and ease of manner, that he was so
often called upon to use his personal influ-
ence to settle disputes, for years before he be-
came President. And it was because of his
success in smoothing over differences that he
was often called " The Pacifier " by his fellow
members in the House.

This ability to calm down others I think re-
sulted from the tact with which McKinley was
so richly endowed, and which more than once
served him in good stead. I recall one incident
that illustrates the carefulness with whidi he
guarded his words, lest misconstruction might
be placed upon them. On October 22, 1897,
the East Room was filled with people waiting
to pay their respects to the President; among

i&i MEMORIES OF THE ^MIITE HOUSE

them Mrs. John A. Logan, who had brought
with her Miss Cisneros, the young and beau-
tifid Cuban girl who had been rescued from a
Spanish prison by Mr. Karl Decker, who was
also present with his wife. Miss Cisneros bad
undergone an experience which had attracted
to lier the sj'mpathy and admiration of the
whole country, and she was placed in the front
of the crowd of those who had assembled to
meet the President. At that time, of course,
the talk of /Unerican intervention in Cuba was
grooving stronger and stronger ; tales of Span-
ish oppression and atrocity were being printed
, far and wide, and the more irresponsible of
►the sensational newspapers were doing their
best to inflame the people in order to bring
about the war which many felt was inevitable.
At first it was not known, that October af-
ternoon, that Miss Cisneros had come to the
White House to pay her respects to the Pres-
ident. But soon this became noised about, and
every one tried to get near enough to see what
the President would do, and to hear what he
would say. The great mass of those present
in the East Room — who did not understand

HOME LIFE OF McKINLEY ^53

McKinley — thought he might show by his
words and manner what he intended to do in
the Cuban situation which all felt was rapidly
nearing a crisis. For it is by no means unusual
for a ruler in some such way to give an indica-
tion of his attitude toward a great question
that is agitating the whole people. Conse-
quently all pressed forward, with manifesta-
tions of excitement, to see Miss Cisneros, and
note the way she was greeted by the President.

Before long Mr. McKinley came into the
East Room, and, approaching Mrs. Logan,
extended his hand, greeting her cordially,
whereupon she introduced Miss Cisneros and
Mr. Decker. The President shook hands with
them courteously; then, without giving them
any special attention whatever, turned to
others who were waiting in hne. Thus he was
particular to show no favoritism whatever ; and
I verily believe that if the Commander of the
Spanish Garrison in Cuba had been directly
back of Miss Cisneros, the President would
have given him the same impersonal, non-
committal greeting.

Not long after Greneral Harrison had been

254 MEMORIES OF TUE milTE HOUSE

inaugurated, he sent for me, handed me his
army commission, and asked me to take care
of it. And on February 10, 1898, President
McKinley called me into his office, and handed
me a rolled docimient, saying :

" Crook, here is my commission as Major in
tlie army. I wish you would personally see
tliat it is framed, in order that it may be pre-
served from injury."

I wondered at the time that neither of these
men had taken care, long before, that their
commissions should be framed; but both were
extremely modest, shunning display, and feel-
ing no doubt that the military services they had
rendered were comparatively unimportant. In. ^
their dislike of anything approaching personal
display they were much like Lincoln, Grant,
and Cleveland. They felt a certain contempt
for such merely outward appearance, and
seemed to regard it as akin to childish vanity.
Whether this feeling was justified is not for
me to say; but I do remember with amusement
that it was left for a civilian President, Mr.
Cleveland, to be the object of military display
which up to that time had not been shown any

The President's Dining-Room

HOME LIFE OF McKINLEY 255

of our Presidents, so far as I can ascertain.
And you may be sure that Mr, Cleveland,
with his honest, bluff simplicity of taste, was
not responsible for the innovation, which came
about in this way:

During one of the earlier of Cleveland's
public receptions, a large number of guests
reached the White House quite early in the
evening. Just before the time arrived for the
President to come downstairs and take his place
at the head of the receiving-line. Colonel La-
mont hurried up to me, as I was strolling
through the rooms, inspecting the company
gathered there, and said:

" Crook, there are a good many army and
navy officers present. I wish you would ask
them all out into the corridor, and have them
form in two lines, leading from the foot of
the main staircase, so that when the President
comes down he may pass between the hues."

" You wish the army and navy officers lined
up from the foot of the main staircase? " I
asked to make sure.

" Yes," he replied, " and you had better start
at once, for the President will soon appear."

256 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

Whereupon I at once approached the offi-
cers, saying:

" Colonel Lamont would be greatly obliged
if you would kindly form two lines, leading
from the foot of the main staircase, so the Presi-
ident may pass through, and thus be received
with mihtary and naval honors."

Some of the officers started at once for the
great corridor, but others looked sharply at nie
to see if I were serious. I assured these latter
that I was entirely serious in dehvering Colo-
nel Lament's message, and that he had been
wholly serious in making the request.

In a few minutes the lines were formed, the
Marine Band started to play " Hail to the
Chief," and Mr. Cleveland came down the
stairway with dignified, deliberate step. If he
was surprised to see at the foot of it the two
lines of army and navy officers, resplendent
in dress uniforms, he made no sign, unless it
was to glance even more sharply than usual
from under that calm, firm brow. At any rate
he passed through the rigidly composed lines
without comment, and the reception thereafter
took place as usual.

HOME LIFE OF McKINLEY 257

Of course, the innovation quickly became a
topic of general conversation, which continued
during most of the evening. Some of the
guests, particularly civilians, thought it a good
thing for the Commander-in-Chief to be shown
such honor and deference ; but most of the offi-
cers kept their own counsel. Before the re-
ception was over, however, one gray-haired old
warrior, who had fought Indians all over the
plains before going to the front in " sixty-one,"
backed me up into a corner, and deUvered him-
self of an opinion. His neck and face were a
deep red with suppressed emotion, and his eyes
had a steely glint as he said :

" Crook, I want to know if that is to be the
usual thing at pubhc receptions after this ? Do
you know what I felt like ? Well, I '11 tell you ;
I felt as if we were a lot of blooming flower-
pots stood up there in two rows for the Presi-
dent to saunter in between, and if this is an
example of democratic simplicity, you'll find
that the country doesn't like it, and doesn't
want it I "

I explained that the request I had delivered
came not from the President, but from Colonel

258 MEMORIES OF TIIE \\'HITE HOUSE

Lamont, and did all I could to pacify the in-
dignant officer. But such things were wholly-
absent during McKinley's administration, as
they had heen under Harrison's,

The first year of President McKinley's home
life in the White House was burdened with
many public issues, and especially with the news
from Cuba which grew more and more serious
as the months went by. It has often been said
that this country was forced into the war with
Spain by certain inflammatory newspapers, es-
pecially in New York, the reiterated sensational
articles and cartoons of wliich drove the un-
thinking part of the people into a condition of
unreasoning hysteria. It has been said, also,
that some sort of intervention by the United
States was inevitable; and that Spain could
not have effected a sale of Cuba to this country,
or allowed us to take charge of Cuban affairs
in any other way, without undergoing a revo-
lution at home. Be that as it may, one thing
I am certain of: President McKinley did every-
thing in his power to avert war. He knew
what war meant. He knew that almost any-
thing is preferable to war, and to avert hostili-

HOME LIFE OF McKINLEY 259

ties he toiled day after day, night after night,
regardless of personal fatigue and danger to
his health.

During all those weeks and months, too,
when he was laboring as few other men have
labored under hke circumstances, he was the
object of as venomous attack as if he were a
monster, a traitor to his country, an unmiti-
gated scoundrel devoid of compassion and com-
mon humanity. Those who were constantly in
the White House during that winter of 1897-
1898, knew what he went through; and they
were not displeased when word came from city
after city that clubs and civic bodies and com-
mercial organizations had passed resolutions
refusing to admit to their reading-rooms the
worst of those newspapers. But through it all
President McKinley gave no outward sign
that he was affected by the attacks. He was
ever calm, quiet, self-contained ; and if possible
his care of his wife grew more and more tender
as the assaults upon his motives and his integ-
rity grew in intensity.

The President and his wife could not be as
much together in those anxious days and even-

260 MEMORIES OF THE RTHTE HOUSE

ings, as they had usually been. Yet when he
was with her, at table, or for a few minutes
in the afternoon, or for a little visit in the
library after dinner, he looked after her as if
she were a child. When she wanted a pen, or
a needle, or a hook to read, all she did was to
say so, and the President would start at once,
hm-rying after it as quickly as possible. This
devotion to liis invalid wife was beautiful ; but
it was also pathetic when we knew the weight
of affairs he was carrying, which in their ulti-
mate aspect could hardly fail to change the
position and relations of the United States with
all the rest of the world.

I left my home on the morning of February
15, 1898, without having glanced at a news-
paper. Matters relating to Cuba had become
so critical that each morning I went to\ the
office as soon as I could eat a httle breakfast,
and without pausing to read a paper or do
anything else.

As soon as I set foot in the ^Vhite House
I knew that sometliing terrible had happened.
Clerks and messengers were hurrying to and
fro; the rooms fairly buzzed with excitement;

• 1 •

i ;

•

■■!=

i'i

'!/

',!.

* 1 #

i '■-•

• H

HOME LIFE OF McKINLEY 261

additional emergency operators were swarming
into the telegraph room, where messages ad-
dressed to the President were arriving from all
over the country, from hundreds of private citi-
zens, and from newspapers, as well as from
officials. Reporters and correspondents were
crowding the hallway upstairs, and word was
brought that the President wished to see me at
once in his private office, I hurried thither,
and entering, found McKinley bending over
papers and telegrams and maps spread out on
his desk. As I came in he looked up, and
while his words were calm and his voice un-
changed, yet he looked greatly distressed. He
had done all he could to avert war, but the
sinking of the Maine was the climax, and then
nothing could avert hostilities.

Scarcely had he given me my instructions
when, early as it was, Cabinet Officers and Sen-
ators began to arrive, and from that day until
April 25, when Congress declared war, the
President scarcely took time to eat or sleep.
During these ten days Mrs. McKinley was
greatly distressed because her husband was
worried; and of course this added to his anx-

262 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

iety. But when Dewey's success at Manila
was assured, the load of sadness was hfted from
hoth of them, and the President seemed to be
greatly elated; for he knew that tliis brilliant
victory meant an early ending of the war.

When the treaty of peace had been signed,
there remained much to do in reorganizing some
sort of government in Cuba, and in trj'ing to
help the Cubans to support themselves ; for
these reasons, largely, McKinley's home life
in the White House was mostly a life of the
hardest kind of work. All employed there
were glad, I think, when, in the first week of
September, 1901, he went to Buffalo witli Mrs.
McKinley to make an address at the Pan-
American Exposition.

It so happened that not a single member of
the Cabinet was in Washington on the af-
ternoon of Friday, September 6. The Vice-
president, Mr. Roosevelt, was at Isle La
Motte, in Lake Champlain, as guest of the
Vermont Fish and Game League. Members
of the office staff, of course, were attending to
their duties in the White House, and business
was going forward as i:sual, when a key in the

HOME LIFE OF McKINIEY 263

telegraph room snapped out a few words which
caught the ever-alert ear of Colonel Montgom-
ery, Superintendent of the White House Tele-
graph Bureau.

With an exclamation of horror, he sprang
out of his chair, himself flashed an order for
a through wire to the telegraph oj95ce in the
Exposition groimds, and while this was being
made ready he stepped out to the main office
and read us the message he had just received,
and which came from the Chief Operator of the
Western Union in Buffalo.

It was a brief message, hurled through to
Washington with the utmost despatch, and
gave merely the sahent facts that the President
had been shot " by an American Anarchist."
Somehow news of the startling tragedy flew
hke wildfire through the White House, and
as Colonel Montgomery slowly and solemnly
read the message the office became crowded
with employees, officials, and newspaper men
who hurried in. Tears streamed down Colonel
Montgomery's face as he sought to keep his
voice calm ; others were trembling, going white
with shock. And as I glimpsed the meaning of
those words, I cried in my heart :

£64 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

"Good God! First Lincoln — then Gar-
field — and now McKinley! "

Under the strain and the memories I broke
down and wept like a cliild.

Half an hour after the receipt of this first
despatch came a message over the long-dis-
tance telephone wire from an ofiicial of the
Exposition, gi\Tng details of the tragedy ; and
a little later Mr. Dawes, Comptroller of the
Treasury, and Blrs. Dawes, together with Pay-
master Barher — nephew of Mrs. McKinley
— took a train from Washington for Buffalo.

Of course, none of the office staff thought
for a moment of going home at the close of the
business day, or of dining or of doing anj-thing
else than waiting for further news, which came
at intervals, in brief bulletins, until, at six
o'clock. General Gillespie, acting Secretary of
War, received from Captain John B. Wisser,
commanding the Seventy-third Company of
Coast Artillery, at Buflfalo, a coherent, detailed
statement, giving the trutli of the event as far
as then could be learned. General Gillespie
telegraphed back to Buffalo ordering the post
Surgeon at Fort Porter to start at once to at-

HOME LIFE OP McKINLEY 265

tend the Commander-in-Chief, and that a de-
tachment of troops from that post be rushed to
the Exposition grounds and thrown around the
hospital there to act as guard.

It was not until that afternoon of Septem-
ber 6 that the country as a whole understood
the greatness, the gentleness, the courage
of William McKinley. As soon as the fatal
shot was fired, Mr. Cortelyou, secretary to the
President, and other officials sprang to his as-
sistance, and while some of the detectives pres-
ent helped to place the wounded man in a
chair, other guards threw themselves upon
the assassin, hurled him to the groimd, and
wrenched the smoking pistol from his murder-
ous hand. The President's face was very white
— I am quoting from one who was present —
and he made no outcry as he sank back, holding
one hand at his abdomen, the other fumbling
at his breast. His eyes were open; he was
clearly conscious of all that happened. And
in that moment of supreme agony, when his
very life-blood was gushing forth, he looked
up into the face of Mr. Milburn, President
of the Exposition, and gasped:

S66 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

" Cortelyou — Cortelyou. My wife — be
careful about her. She 's sleeping — break the
news gently to her. ..."

Moved by pain, he writhed to the left, and
then his eyes fell on the prostrate form of his
would-be murderer, Czolgosz, who lay on the
floor, helpless beneath the blows of the Expo-
sition guard.

With a self-mastery and a charity almost
divine the President raised liis right band and
placed it on the shoulder of Mr. Cortelyou.

" Let no one hurt him," he said in a voice of
command, so firm that all who beard it were
startled.

The next instant he sank back in the chair
while the Exposition guards carried the as-
sassin away.

At the time of the shooting, Mrs. McKinley
was quietly asleep in the home of Mr. Milburn,
and in pursuance of her husband's wishes she
was not disturbed or told of the dreadful event
for some little time after it had occurred.

The Vice-president was at once notified, and
left Isle La Motte on a steam yacht, which
rushed him to Burlington, where a special

HOME LIFE OF McKINLEY 267

train was made ready on which he hastened to
Buffalo.

President McKinley died at 2.15 a. m., on
Saturday, September 14, and just before he
passed away his wife was taken into the room
where he lay, to bid him final farewell. As
she was tenderly led away from that chamber
of death, he whispered :

" Nearer, my God, to Thee," — words of the
hymn always dear to his heart. Feebly and
with effort, he added, " Good-bye, all ; good-
bye. ... It is God's way, not ours. ..."

When the office staff came to the White
House, a few hours later, that Saturday morn-
ing, the great flag was already at half mast,
and on the front door was posted a printed
card, bearing a single word : " Closed."

The high windows of the East Room were
covered by white shades which had been drawn
over them. Visitors were denied admittance
to the building, although many came there, and
strolled around the grounds before leaving.
The employees of the White House went about
their duties with careworn faces and soft steps ;
and a large force of men were already on hand

««8 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

making even-thing ready for the return of Mrs.
McKinley and her dead.

The train bearing the lifeless body of this
martjTed President arrived iii Washington
Monday evening, September 16, and the mor-
tal remains of a man who truly was beloved
by all who knew him lay in the East Room,
stuTounded by a guard of honor until the fol-
lowing day, when they were taken to the Capi-
tol, and there lay in state, under the lofty dome
nf the rotmida. The flag was half-masted at
the main entrances to the Capitol, but there was
no black drapery or other indication of death,
the law having been already passed wliich pro-
vides against such drapery on pubhc buildings.

To the amazement of her physician and other
attendants, Mrs. McKinley bore up siu-pris-
ingly during aU the days and nights of this
ordeal, and her physical condition occasioned
little anxiety when the funeral train left Wash-
ington in three sections on the following
Wednesday.

The services of interment were held in
Canton, Ohio, on Thursday. Mrs. McKinley
never came back to the White House, all her

HOME LIFE OF McKINLEY 269

personal belongings there being packed shortly
afterward and sent to her by Mr. Cortelyou.

In closing this brief chapter, I have one
regret: that I am unable fittingly to charac-
terize the unspeakable wickedness of those
newspaper editors, managers, directors, whose

savagery and ferocity and fanaticism led them
to print and throw broadcast over the country,
for days and weeks and months, such attacks
upon President McKinley as undoubtedly
preyed upon the unbalanced minds of many,
and which certainly contributed to, if indeed
they did not directly cause, his assassination.

9 IX.

WHITE HOUSE RECQLLECTIONS OF
PRESmENT AND MRS. ROOSEVELT

Theodoke Roosevelt, in some ways liie most
eztraordin&ry man who has ever been Presi-
deait of the United States, took the oath of
ofBce at Buffalo on September 14, 1901. On
Friday, September 20, he arrived in Washing-
taa, from Canton, Ohio, wbeie be attended the
funeral services of his predecessor, and came di-
rectly to the White House, reaching here at
9.40 o'clock in the morning, accompanied by
his secretary, Mr. Cortelyou, and his brother-
in-law. Commander Cowles, of the navy. He
at once called a Cabinet meeting, after which
he went to Commander Cowles's home for
luncheon.

I had seen much of Mr. Roosevelt while he
was Civil Service Commissioner residing in
Washington. Even in those days he was a

PRESIDENT AND MRS. ROOSEVELT 271

remarkable man, absolutely fearless, full of
energy, snap, vigor; and so in earnest about
everything he undertook that all who came in
contact with him set him down as one with
whom the world would have to reckon some
time. His coming to the White House as
President created more than a littje speculation
on the part of those employed in the Executive
Office. Nobody knew j ust what would happen ;
but all realized to the full that they were face
to face with a force new to American life ; that
they were to be called upon to help carry out
plans and policies of an energy Hterally tire-
less and of boundless scope. And yet, not one
man of us had the slightest apprehension ; for
every one felt that if we tried to do our work
faithfully, we had nothing to fear. As far as
we were concerned there was no need for a
declaration as to a " square deal." It was ours
from the moment Theodore Roosevelt stepped
into the White House that Friday morning of
September 20, 1901, with Mr. Cortelyou and
Commander Cowles, and called the first meet-
ing of his Cabinet advisers. And it was ours
continuously until the few moments when he

«ro BIEMORIES OF THE WHITB HOUSE

called us together, on March 8, 1909, and spoke
his farewell to his office force.

Three days after President Roosevelt came
to the White House, Mr. Cortelyou summoned
the office staff to the old Cabinet room, which
then was still used as the private office of the
Executive. Arriving there we naturally fell
into a line, and the President strode toward
us with his decisive step. For a moment he
looked us over — a single, sweeping glance of
his peculiar intensity — and then, his face
breaking into a smile, he said :

'' I 'm glad to see you all, gentlemen. • • •
But I didn't know I had such a large office
force!"

Then he came still nearer, and shook hands
with each one.

There was something engaging, something
electric, about him ; about his tremendous vigor,
his physical power, his direct, unswerving, in-
tense expression of countenance, and his hearti-
ness of manner, which, combined, produced a
remarkable effect. It has been my privilege,
in the course of my subordinate duties at the
Wliite House, to meet thousands of men, from

PRESIDENT AND MRS. ROOSEVELT 273

Lincoln's day down to the present; of whom
hundreds, from time to time, occupied com-
manding positions in one field of life or an-
other. But never has any one of them pro-
duced upon me such an effect as did President
Roosevelt when he called us together that
morning in his office.

From the day he took possession of the
White House Mr. Roosevelt started in to work
hard, and this he kept up during more than
seven years at a pace that surprised the world.
Soon after breakfasting with his family he
would go to his office, and from the moment
he arrived the office machinery would rim at
full speed. His record as Civil Service Com-
missioner, Police Conmiissioner in New York
City, Colonel of the Rough Riders, Governor
of New York, and Vice-president of the United
States, had made him known to every hamlet,
farmhouse, and cross-roads in the country. The
American people as a whole felt a personal
interest in him, and they felt that he had a per-
sonal interest in them; that he would do all in
his power to right public wrongs, whether na-
tional or local; to encourage and stand fast

474 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

with those who were trying to do what wasl
honest and npright.

This feeling of personal friendship on the I
part of the public resulted in a daily mail ]
larger, perhaps, than any other individual ever 1
received continuously in this hemisphere. The i
President had quizzically commented upon the I
size of his office force that morning when we J
first came to meet him, but he soon found out 1
that he had plenty of need for the thirty-eight -I
men, eight of whom were stenographers and 1
typewriters. It is sometliing of a task to han-
dle, examine, and reply to five hundred letters I
a day, on the average, for seven or eight years. J
Of course the President did not read or per-
sonally answer all of these letters. That would
have been a physical impossibility for any two
men; but nothing was kept from him that he
ought to see, and his orders were very strict
that a proper response must be made to every
communication which came to the Executive
Office. In this connection will be recalled the
great flood of letters, telegrams, and other mes-
sages of congratulation that swept into the
White House immediately after his election

PRESIDENT AND MRS. ROOSEVELT 275

in November, 1904. Thousands and thousands
of them there were, from ahnost every part of
the country. I think I am correct in saying
that individual acknowledgment, by note or
by engraved card, was made to every one so
received.

I doubt if any previous President ever took
such active, personal interest in so many public
questions, inaugurated so many new lines of
work for the public welfare, created so many
new lines of business looking toward the facili-
tating of governmental functions as he con-
ceived them. Yet we have never had another
President who regarded recreation, daily ath-
letic exercise, as so important that it must be
taken as consistently and regularly as food.
Furthermore, if there ever has been another
President who was so punctilious about social
obhgations, who read so thoroughly and enor-
mously, and part of whose very religion was
to devote himself constantly to wife and chil-
dren — I do not know who he was.

I am well aware that in the case of every
President there must be wide divergence of
opinion concerning his public life and politi-

876 MEMOBXES OP THE WHITE BOUSE

cal and economic policies. In these recollec-
tions of the h(Hne life of our Presidents, I have
nothing to do with such matters. Yet it is
surely pennisaible for me to say that the ex-
traordinary enthusiasm with which President
Roosevelt threw himself, day after day, into his
official duties, was no whit greater than the en-
thusiasm which he carried into his unofHcial li fe.
He was more hke an ancient Greek than any
other human being I ever saw, in thd,t lie was
interested in everything and in everybody.
Whether it were a monumental success like
bringing about the Treaty of Portsmoutli and
thus ending hostilities between Japan and
Russia ; or seeing to it that the Panama Canal
was actually under way; or finding a new
author of real promise, — it was all the same.
His interest was aroused instantly, his enthu-
siasm was unabated.

One morning in March, 1905, I received a
note from a Washington gentleman, introduc-
ing a Mr. C. N. Teeter, of Hagerstown,
Ind., " who," the note went on to say, " has
a top made by his son, eight years of age, which
he wislies to have presented to Master Quentin
Roosevelt."

PRESIDENT AND MRS. ROOSEVELT 277

I had a talk with Mr. Teeter, who was a
machinist. It seemed that his little son had
become very much interested in reading about
Quentin; and, being of about the same age,
thought it would be nice to make a present for
him. So he went into his father's shop, and
after much effort turned out a steel top — the
most remarkable top I have ever seen, at that.
Mr; Teeter wanted to know if the President
would allow Quentin to accept the little gift.
Not merely would Mr. Roosevelt do this, as
I quickly ascertained; but he wanted to see
the boy, and have a chat with him, and find out
how the wonderful top could be spun. So, as
soon as possible thereafter, the Indiana young-
ster was brought to the White House, and
taken into the President's private office.
The President patted him on the head, and
asked questions, and finally learned, as did
Quentin, how the top would go. This in-
terview, of course, took only a few minutes —
but the point is that it was granted, gladly
granted by Mr. Roosevelt ; and that for those
few minutes everything else was put aside.

I have been told of a new book the President

278 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

heard of and sent for, — a monumental work,
tracing certain phases of human history as far
back as himian history is known. Mr. Roose-
velt not merely read books, but absorbed
them. And when he had finished this particu-
lar %v-ork, he sent for a stenographer and
started in to write the author — a foreigner —
what he thought of the volume as a whole, of
its historical accuracy, and its philosophical
deductions. Hour after hour he dictated,
swiftly, surely, and when the letter was com-
pleted, at one single session, my recollection
is that it was nearer twenty tlian fifteen thou-
sand words in length. At its conclusion Mr,
Roosevelt at once sent for another short-hand
man and jilimgcd into a matter of government.
The stenographer who had taken the letter
referred to came out to the general office, with
closely filled note-books in his hand, and sank
into his chair nearly exhausted.

In the early hours of the morning, after dis-
posing of his mail, the President would receive
Senators and Representatives and Cabinet
members; and then, shortly before twelve
o'clock, he would step out to the general re-

PRESIDENT AND MRS. ROOSEVELT 279

ception room to greet private citizens from all
over the country, who had come to " pay their
respects." His ability to remember faces and
names was remarkable, and I have never known
him to make a mistake therein. More than
once, while in that room, crowded with visitors
who were being presented to him, I have seen
him glance over to a far corner, and spy some
old acquaintance from a distance — from the
far West, or some remote New England vil-
lage, or from the South, or the Middle West.
And his hand would go high up in the air, as
he would call out above the sea of heads sur-
rounding him :

"Hullo, Jack! Glad to see you. When did
you get to Washington? "

Just came in, Mr. President."
Well, don't go away — I want you to take
lunch with me! "

And later on the friend would find himself
one of a dozen or twenty other personal friends
of Mr. and Mrs. Roosevelt, gathered around
their hospitable table. I think I am within
bounds in saying that probably there never
was a day during the Roosevelt presidency

((

«80 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

wiien no guests were asked to take luncheon
in the White House. Both the President and
his wife were hospitable in the highest sense.
They liad friends by tlie score, if not by the
hundred — warm, sincere, devoted friends ; and
better than any other thing, I believe, they
liked to entertain these friends in the privacy
of their AVhite House home.

Those familiar with Washington from 1
to 1909 will agree with me, I am confidei
that no other President ever infused into the
Kxecutive Mansion such a spirit of joyousness,
gayety, and unbounded welcome. And the
wife of no other gave an3'thing like the number
of private dinners, small dances for the young
])eo|)Ie, musicales, formal luncheons, teas, " at
homes," receptions, and garden parties. Of
course the usual public affairs were held; the
four state dinners each season and other Presi-
dential requirements of like nature ; but to these
I am not referring. The list of entertainments
for which Mrs. Roosevelt sent out invitations
would appal almost any American woman.
Yet so great was her capacity for carrying
through her share of her husband's life, in ad-

en^^

Theodoie Rooset'elt and Mrs. Roosevelt

'.'I

PRESIDENT AND MBS. ROOSEVELT 281

dition to her own particular duties as wife,
mother, home-maker, that she was able to live
those seven busy years without losing health,
strength, or the youthful, vivacious, charming
presence that made her personality as remark-
able as that of her husband. The White House
Social List of the Roosevelt administrations
makes record of some one hundred and eighty
of these private entertainments, which were
given during the six months' season of the sev-
eral years. Each of them was a perfect example
of elegant, but by no means extravagant, enter-
taining on the part of an American gentle-
woman, whose husband occupied a high po-
sition in the world, and who received her guests
with dignity becoming the station in life which,
for the time being, she occupied.

As chosen representative of a great ma j ority
of the American people. President Roosevelt
gave the best that was in him to conduct the
business of their government according to what
he thought was for the highest and best inter-
ests of those whom he served. And it always
seemed to me that, on her part, Mrs. Roosevelt
regarded her position as Mistress of the White

S8« MEMORIES OF TIIE WHITE HOUSE .

House to be in its own way a position for
which she felt responsibihty to the American
people.

I have never seen such a blending of traits
as was shoftTi in Mr. Roosevelt. He could de-
light a prince of royal blood who might be
dining at his table ; and a few hours later meet
on absolutely even ground — man to man I —
a group of toilworn, hard-headed and hard-
handed laboring men, who had come to Wash-
ington to ask his aid in settling a disturbance
in which the pubhc was involved.

Of course we of to-day know all this; the
Roosevelt administrations are yet a vivid mem-
' ory. But, for the benefit of readers in years
to come, I am endeavoring to give some idea
of one whose versatility set him apart as a truly
extraordinary man, yet one whose personal
tastes were the simplest.

There can be no question that Mr. Roosevelt
chafed under the fact that when he went away
from home his advisers deemed it necessary to
have secret service men following him, in order
that no insane person should do him harm.
\\'iien he first noticed that he was being fol-

PRESIDENT AND MRS. ROOSEVELT 283

lowed by such guards he was indignant; he
didn't want them. He felt entirely able to
take care of himself and any who might be with
him. But his advisers insisted that no precau-
tion could be omitted. The public interests in
which he was the moving figure were too great,
the policies at home and abroad, which he was
instituting, were too serious. His advisers
would take no chances with cranks who are
always scheming to get near the President of
the United States; and he had to accept their
judgment. But he never let the presence of
such guards change his plans, or affect his in-
tentions in the shghtest degree. If they had
to accompany him they had to — that was all
there was to it. But if the secret service men
thought he would permit their suggestions to
hamper, in any way, the liberty of a free-born
American citizen, they were much mistaken.

I remember one afternoon in late January,
when the proverbial January thaw had made
everything soaking wet and miserably uncom-
fortable, that I started homeward from the of-
fice, and met the President accompanied by two
friends — one being Mr. Pinchot — and Mr.

i&i MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

Sloan of the secret service. AH were dressed
for a " Roosevelt stroU," which meant a tramp
of ten, fifteen, or twenty miles, perhaps,
straight across country, over hills, through
fields and woods; regardless of weather, ob-
stacles in the way, or anything else.

They took their "stroll" — for about two
hours, through the marshes southwest of the
Executive Mansion. Pushing vigorously on-
ward, as usual, the President came to an es-
pecially soft spot in the soggy surroundings,
but, looking ahead, thought he saw firm
ground, The next moment he sprang upward
and forward to this supjiosedly fii-m ground,
but instead of finding what was anticipated,
he landed in icy water literally up to his waist.
Without hesitatuig a moment he called out to
his companions:

" Come along! We can get through all
right ! "

And not to be outdone, the three instantly
followed, with the same result. The Presi-
dent soon saw that it was useless to proceed
further in that direction, and at once leaped
in another, this time coming down in a pool

PRESIDENT AND MRS. ROOSEVELT 285

deeper than the first one, and his companions
also plunged in. A moment or two later, how-
ever, they all made their way to sohd earth
again, wet to the skin almost from armpits to
ankles; but instead of returning home for a
change of clothing, the President laughed at
the misadventure, and started off at a swing-
ing gait across country. By this time the after-
noon was so far advanced that the atmosphere
was freezing, and this doubtless aided in dry-
ing out their clothing as they walked.

Such considerations as the weather never af-
fected Mr. Roosevelt in the slightest. Exer-
cise he would have. To keep up his tremendous
mental activity he felt it necessary to keep his
physical self at its highest efficiency. Often
have I seen him start out from the White
House in a driving, smashing downpour, dis-
daining umbrella, mackintosh or other such
impedimenta, and go oflf on a long, hard
tramp, with the eagerness and zest and delight
he took in everything.

The first time I ever saw Mrs. Roosevelt
was on Friday, September 27, 1901, when Mr.
Loeb — to whom I had administered the oath

886 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

the day previous — took me to her, in the room
over the Red Room. She wanted to see me
about obtaining a writing-desk, and some
stationery and inkstands; and I knew at
first glance that with her as Mistress of the
White House, affairs would nm along easily,
smootlUy, and without unpleasant features. A
most charming woman, she impressed me at
that first meeting, with a sweet, kind face, and
a very winsome manner. The ensuing seven
or eight years confirmed this first impression.

Wliether she realized how great was to be
her part in her husband's presidency I do not
know, of course. But she soon proved herself
competent to preside over such varied and ex-
tensive social activities as tlic W'hite House
had never known before. Mrs. Roosevelt did
not employ a housekeeper, but kept a strict
oversight herself upon household matters. It
was absolutely necessary, however, for her to
have the assistance of a social secretary, and
this important position was ably filled by Miss
Isabel Hagner.

How Mrs. Roosevelt ever managed to at-
tend to her multitudinous affairs has always

PRESIDENT AND MRS. ROOSEVELT 287

been a mystery to me; but she did so, with a
thoroughness unsurpassed. First of all wife
and mother, she was also comrade of her hus-
band, and confidante of the children. When
the President was going out for a ride in the
saddle, he would ascertain whether Mrs. Roose-
velt could go with him. If so, his delight was
unbounded. If she could not go, he would send
for some men friends. But frequently she
went, generally driving with the President in
a carriage from the White House, out to Park
Road, in the far northwest section, where they
would find horses waiting for them. Then a
spring into the saddle, a word to the splendid
animals — and away they would go, flying
Uke the wind, out into the country. And let
me remark, right here, that Mrs. Roosevelt,
when I knew her, was one of the finest horse-
women I ever met. Without wishing to make
comparisons, I am of the opinion that she was
as much at home in the saddle as was her dis-
tinguished husband.

Both of them intensely patriotic, believing
in their country and in their fellow country-
men and countrywomen ; delighting in the com-

£88 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

radeship of their children; possessing sound
judgment concerning books, pictures, music,
the drama; exceedingly hospitable by nature;
loving God's outdoors, and the creatures God
has placed there — it is no wonder that theirs
lias been an ideal hfe in its home and family
aspects. Mrs. Roosevelt, when in the White
House, looked after the comfort and health
of husband and cliildren just as any other
American woman would do in private life.
The welfare of the boys and girls, their schools,
their games, their friends and ambitions, were
a very important part of life to tliis charming,
graceful, winsome, womanly woman. Whether
considering a boyish project which Quentin
or Areliif had for "camping out" somewhere
over night; or presiding at a great dinner to
distinguished guests, and later the same even-
ing, at 9.30 or 10 o'clock, perhaps, receiving
five hundred more at a musicale^as was
often the case— Mrs. Roosevelt was always
the same: gentle, courteous, gracious, and
winsome. I have used that word " winsome "
several times in referring to Mrs. Roosevelt.
I meant to do so. To my mind it describes

PRESIDENT AND MRS. ROOSEVELT 289

her more accurately than any other word in
the language.

Because of her rare simplicity, open-hearted-
ness, and downright " goodness," her youth-
ful spirit never changed. Like her husband
she was able to meet and mingle on equal terms
with people of all ages. And when she ar-
ranged the White House dinner for school-
girl friends of Miss Ethel, which was given
Thursday evening, April 18, 1907, and took
part in the dance which followed it, in the East
Room, the young guests who were present
never realized that she was one whit older than
they were. She entered into the affair with the
single intention of giving the school-girls just
as good a time as they could possibly have.
And it was because she wholly forgot herself,
and thought only of the others, that she seemed
as young as they that memorable evening.

Like the President, she lived an outdoor life
as far as possible, and did not believe in letting
weather conditions interrupt plans for riding
or walking. In this connection I remember
the thirtieth day of January, 1908 — the cold-
est day Washington had had for a year, if not,

290 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

indeed, for many a year. Everybody' in the
city, almost everybody, tbat is, was complain-
ing of the bitter weather, and almost everybody
had difficulty in keeping reasonably warm.
In this we, of the Executive Office, formed no
exception. I had arrived in the office rather
early that day, and was busily engaged in
blowing the tips of my fingers, and stamping
my feet, when, at about fifteen minutes before
nine o'clock, I happened to glance through a
window, and saw the President and Mrs.
Roosevelt leaving the White House, neither
wearing hat or head covering of any other kind.
They turned into the South Grounds, bare-
headeil as they were, and made two full rounds,
he walking rapidly, with his habitual long,
swinging step, and Mrs. Roosevelt keeping up
with him. The keen, biting air, just gilded
with rays of the winter sun, and the light-col-
ored sky, was what they wanted to enjoy;
and enjoy those things they did, with a vim.

It was only a few weeks before this hap-
pened, that the children suffered a great loss
in the disappearance of a pet dog, a little black-
and-tan, which they loved with all their hearts,

PRESIDENT AND MRS. ROOSEVELT 291

especially Quentin. Search was made dili-
gently, but no trace could be found of it. One
day word was brought to the White House
that a dog answering the pet's description had
been seen in the public dog-pound, and without
delay Mrs. Roosevelt set out to walk there, ac-
companied by Quentin and his governess.
When they reached the pound, they were dis-
appointed to find that the black-and-tan was
not their lost friend. But it did look very much
Uke him ; so much so, in fact, that little Quen-
tin took it in his arms, and petted it, and whis-
pered to it.

Mrs. Roosevelt called the poundmaster to
her.

" What are you going to do with the dog
my little boy is playing with? " she inquired.

" He will be killed if not redeemed very
shortly. Madam."

" Can I purchase his freedom? "

" Yes, Madam, by paying the usual fee of
two dollars."

. Quentin was asked if he would like this new
doggie ; and his answer caused Mrs. Roosevelt,
as soon as she returned to the White House, to

etW MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

send Anderson post-haste to the pound, carry-
ing a two-dollar bill, with mstructions to bring
back the black-and-tan without delay.

One of the most important social events at
the White House during Mr. Roosevelt's presi-
doicy was the marriage of his daughter, Alice,
to Nicholas Longworth, of Ohio, which took
place on Saturday, February 17, 1906, the cere-
mony of the Protestant Episcopal Church of
the United States being read by the Right Rev-
erend Hrairy Yates Satterlee, Bishop of the di-
ocese of Wasliington. The day itself was per-
fect, and the gold-and-white East Room was
made evrai more splendid by exquisite floral
decorations. One of the guests who was pres-
ent, and saw this twelfth bride of the White
House advance to the dais, leaning on the arm
of her father, ^\'as Mrs. " Nelly " Grant Sar-
toris, who, thirty odd years previous, had been
married at almost the identical spot in that
same room. The great room was packed to
its capacity, and the wedding was, perhaps, the
most brilliant affair of its kind that has ever
taken place on this continent.

The second great social event in the family

PRESIDENT AND MRS. ROOSEVELT 293

life of Mr. and Mrs. Roosevelt, during their
residence in the White House, occurred some
two years after this wedding, when their
daughter Miss Ethel was formally introduced
to society. No other girl ever reigned so long
in the Executive Mansion, not even Nelly
Grant. Brought up in the simplest way at
Sagamore Hill, and attending an unpretentious
school-house near by. Miss Ethel had been the
comrade of two enterprising young brothers,
and as closely the comrade of father and
mother. Furthermore, her preparation for
Uf e was far from that usually accorded Ameri-
can girls. Familiar with English, French,
German; an accomplished pianist; possess-
ing mental and physical vigor, she also had been
taught the art of housekeeping and home-
making, by that best of all teachers, a com-
petent mother. It is not generally known,
perhaps, that Mrs. Roosevelt is an exquisite
needlewoman. The baby clothes of all her
children, it is said, were fashioned by her own
skillful fingers; and she early taught her
daughter to sew, and to enjoy it, so that, dur-
ing her White House life Miss Ethel more

tm MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

often than not was fashioning some garment,
or embroidering some fancy article. Like her
mother she was almost always busily engaged
thus when she sat with Iier parents in the even-
ing, or when she visited with yoimg friends ; and
like both father and mother, she was always
fond of outdoor life, having learned to ride her
own Uttle pony when barely six years old, it is
said. At the time of her " coming out " party,
she was an accomplished horsewoman, and,
thorough mistress of a fine Arabian mare wliich
had been given her, she used to accompany the
President on some of his long, hard rides,

It is safe to say that tliis charming yoimg
American girl will never forget that party,
held in h(T iionor in the '^^''hite House, ti» which
not only her own friends had been invited, but
to which came eagerly a great company of the
most distinguished men and women then so-
journing on the North American continent.
Nothing was spared to make the event as per-
fect as possible; but true to their traditions,
the President and Mrs. Roosevelt resolutely
set their disapproval upon any extravagance.
Elegance there was on every hand — in the

PRESIDENT AND MRS. ROOSEVELT 295

music, the decorations, the supper, the beau-
tiful costumes of the many guests; but not
a scintilla of evidence could be found which
indicated wasteful luxury.

The President's two eldest sons, Theodore,
Jr., and Kermit, were away at boarding-school
during most of the years of their parents'
occupancy of the White House, but the two
younger boys, Archie and Quentin, attended
schools in the city or near by, and fun-loving,
rollicking lads they were, too ! From the very
first day they arrived in the Executive Man-
sion they started in to have a good time, and
they began by a detailed, careful survey of
the entire building — every nook and cranny
of it — and then of the extensive wide-reach-
ing grounds. Washington remembers yet,
with a chuckle, the story of a prank they were
said to have indulged in that first day. I can-
not vouch for the accuracy of the story, but
accept it unhesitatingly, for it sounds just
like two enterprising American youngsters.
Having inspected their new home from attic
to cellar, the boys turned their attention to
the grounds, and after examining the wide

2Se MEMORIES OF THE OTIITE HOUSE

sweeping lawns and gardens on the south
side, they went into the park which fronts
on Pennsylvania Avenue. By that time the
afternoon was about gone, and it was just
getting dark. The first person Archie and
Quentin spied was the old lamplighter, with
his httle ladder, scampering up and down the
lamp-posts, hghting the gas-jets which then
were used. With deep interest they watched
tills nimble little figure trotting from post to
post, the ladder over liis shoulder, and anx-
ious to get all the jets alight before the pre-
scribed minute had expired; for, of course,
every detail of this nature in and around the
White House is attended to with precision,
with the utmost exactness and thoroughness.
An idea for a new game jiojiped into the
active minds of Archie and Quentin. As soon
as the lighter had turned on and illuminated
all the gas-jets on one side of the park,
and was luirrying to another side, the lads
would scramble up post after post, agile
as a pair of monkeys, and turn out the lights.
The man was completely mystified. No
sooner would one side of the park be ilium-

PRESIDENT AND MRS. ROOSEVELT 297

inated than the other would be in darkness.
Finally a watchman who had been studying
this remarkable phenomenon, saw a light, him-
self, so to speak; and cautiously moving for-
ward he spied a wiry youngster in knicker-
bockers swarming up a lamp-post which sud-
denly became shrouded in black oblivion. He
waited until the phenomenon was repeated a
few times, to make sure, and then darted for-
ward to take into custody some young scamp
who had impudently invaded the White House
grounds. When he ascertained that he had
two youngsters in his hands, and that both
were sons of the President, he thoughtfully
concluded not to press charges against them.

Every President, of course, receives a great
many presents of various kinds from people
all over the country, and in this respect Mr.
Roosevelt was no exception. Admirers from
every section of the land wanted him to accept
gifts of every imaginable description. Pub-
lishing houses and authors sent books by the
dozen, score, hundred. At one period of his
presidency the Executive Office was inun-
dated — if that term is permissible — with

£96 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

" big sticks " cut from every type of tree. I
remember one such that had a butt end as
Urge as a puaipkiii. Crate after crate ar-
ri\'ed containing live foxes, live coons, and other
animals, including dogs without number. One
ilay the newspapers told that a dog the
President was particularly fond of had been
whipped in a fight. Whether the story was
true or not I cannot say ; but I do know that
a couple of days later a Roosevelt supporter
out in Ohio sent to Washington a crate in
which stood a big, heavy bulldog. At the
same time came a note saying that the Presi-
dent might feel perfectly safe in turning him
loose 'most anywhere; that "the brute had
never yet been hcked in a fight "; and the man
who wrote the letter added that he did n't be-
lieve the brute ever would be. I can vouch
for at least the latter part of this note. That
dog still lives in Washington, and he hasn't
been licked, up to this writing. But I am in-
formed on good authority that he whipped
all the dogs he ever came across in the capital
city. A present of this kind the President did
not keep of course.

PRESIDENT AND MRS. ROOSEVELT 299

In addition to endless oj05cial tasks, to
private and public entertaining, to constant
general reading, special studies, and his family
comradeship, Mr. Roosevelt insisted upon
keeping informed as closely as possible con-
cerning the opinion of the country at large on
all important public matters. In order to do
tliis he saw and talked with hundreds of men
where other Presidents would have talked with
scores or dozens. He invited to his office, for
free and frank discussion, not merely men of
education, wealth, owners and managers of
great industrial plants, but also their workmen.
It was a wonderful procession that passed into
that office during the seven or eight years —
statesmen, captains of industry, leaders of
finance, authors, artists, explorers, natural-
ists, scientific men, labor leaders, ranchmen,
governors, generals, political leaders of little
country districts, humble folk of no particu-
lar importance whatever except that they
were citizens of the United States and there-
fore interested in its welfare. That was
enough. That fact in itself was sufficient.

But in addition to seeing all these people.

SOO MEMORIES OF THE WTIITE HOUSE

and attending to his enormous correspondence,
tlie President, with remarkable success, under-
t(Kik to keep informed concerning public opin-
ion as it was voiced by the responsible press
of the nation. During Sir. Roosevelt's presi-
dency one of my own important duties was
to scan from three hundred to five hundred
newspapers each day, and to mark every single
article, paragraph, and reference tlierein,
wliich related to the policies and procedure of
the Administration. Nothing was to be omit-
ted, I was told, when receiving the mstructions
for this work. Nothing must be kept from the
President, no matter how mifavorable, how
severely critical, provided that it would be of
the slightest value to him as a guide to the
opinion of the people as a whole, whom he was
trying to serve to the best of his ability. It
is needless to add that I followed my instruc-
tions to the letter, and the clippings, of which
there must have been tens of thousands, form
an extraordinary compilation.

The American people, always keenly in-
terested in any new phase of Ufe, found an
endless field for comment and speculation in

PRESIDENT AND MRS. ROOSEVELT 301

the varied activities of this many-sided Presi-
dent. One day the Physical Director of the
New York Athletic Club, " Professor " Mike
Donovan, came down to Washington at Mr.
Roosevelt's request. In all probability neither
of them thought anything about the matter
one way or the other. Mr. Roosevelt merely
wanted to make sure that after protracted resi-
dence at the White House he had not lost any
of his alertness or elasticity of body. So he
sent word to Donovan to come down and " try
him out," as I may term it, and Donovan
responded as he would have responded to a like
request from any one of his old pupils. But
when the newspaper correspondents got hold
of the fact that Mike Donovan, a famous
trainer of athletes, was actually in Washing-
ton for the avowed purpose of putting the
President of the United States through a
series of " athletic stunts " — which were to
take place in the White House itself — the
whole country rang with colmnns and columns
about it. Such a thing probably never took
place in the White House before, and that was
excuse enough for the prominence given to

SOe MEMORIES OF THE WTMTE HOUSE

the affair. But looking at it from a common-
sense viewpoint, there was every reason for
the visit. The President called Donovan to
Washington to test the power and efficiency
of his physical self, to see if the bodily engine
was sound, working true, and not in danger
of " shpping a cog" anywhere. And durijig
his presidency Mr. Roose^'elt had Donovan
come doKTi for the same purpose twice each
year on the average.

For a long time, also, Mr. Roosevelt en-
gaged in wrestling houts and in boxing con-
tests with " Joe " Grant, champion of the Dis-
trict of Columbia, and these exercises took
place two or three times a week during the
winter season when it was not expedient to
go for horseback ride or long walks. We of
to-day remember, of course, the arrival in
Washington of the distinguished Japanese
instructors in jiu-jitsu, who visited the White
House at various times during two seasons, un-
til Mr. Roosevelt became proficient in their
remarkable art. It was not only with such ex-
pert professional athletic teachers, however,
that the President practiced various forms of

PRESIDENT AND MRS. ROOSEVELT 303

self-defense. Wrestling bouts, boxing con-
tests, broadsword encounters, were indulged
in with close personal friends — notably Gen-
eral Leonard Wood — and with the President's
sons and their friends. At one time the news-
papers were filled with stories about the famous
wrestling exhibition given in the East Room
by the heaviest, most powerful, most proficient
wrestlers of the Empire of Japan.

All this sort of thing was unusual, of course,
and only served to increase popular interest
in the President's every word and act. And
following close were various spectacular ef-
forts indulged in by private citizens, which,
showed their own endurance and originality.
For example, on November 29, 1907, an old-
time " prairie schooner," of the type in vogue
in '49, came slowly up Pennsylvania Avenue,
drawn by a pair of philosophic oxen, turned
into the White House grounds, and came to
a full stop before the entrance to the Execu-
tive Office. In the wagon were an elderly wo-
man, an accomphshed collie dog, and simple
housekeeping utensils; and the whole outfit
was in charge of a weatherbeaten old man.

white-haired, wrinkled, bearded, but spry as a
cat. This old man was Ezra Sleeker, years
previous reputed to be a millionaire hop-grower
out in what was then Wasliington Territory,
but who had long before lost bis fortune. A day
or two previous, he had completed a two-year
journey from Tacoma, Wash., to Washington,
D. C, and had been able to make an appoint-
meut to be received this November morning
by the President.

After pausing a moment in front of the
oiRce, Meeker shouted to liis oxen, and they
hmibered on, drawing the heavy wagon aroimd
to a point between the oflBce and the Depart-
ment of State, across the way, where they
were brought to a stop again. This time
Meeker sprang out of his " prairie schooner,"
going over the wheel as hghtly as a boy, and
came into the office, where the President was
waiting to give the vigorous old man a hearty
welcome. After a little chat he went out
again, this time accompanied by the President,
who stood on the office steps for five minutes,
looking with interest at the outfit of long ago.
Then he went with Meeker over to where the

PRESIDENT AND MRS. ROOSEVELT 305

wagon waited, was introduced to the woman
inside, and enjoyed seeing the collie dog put
through his tricks. It was one of the last days
of November, a cold wind whipped around
the ground blowing one's clothing awry, and
the President was bareheaded, and without an
overcoat. But he didn't mind it. He en-
joyed the old man and the " prairie schooner "
and the oxen and the dog; and the woman in
the wagon was made to feel, by his courteous
cordiality, that he felt it an honor to meet her.
On another occasion, earlier in the same year,
Eh Smith had arrived from Nome, Alaska, in
a curious vehicle, which consisted of a regular
arctic dog-sledge resting on small wheels.
With the exception of certain stretches in his
long journey when he had to go by water.
Smith had come all the way from Nome to
Washington with that sledge drawn by his
team of six dogs, we were told. He had been
about a year on the journey, and by accom-
plishing the trip in a specified period he had
won a bet, said to be for ten thousand dollars.
Smith saw the President, presented to him a
letter from an official at Nome, and in return

806 MEMORIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE

asked for atnl received a brief note in which
the President certified to the date of his ar-
rival at the White House. Then the rugged
mail-carrier from Alaska drove his sledge
around to the south side of the White House,
where Mrs. Roosevelt and the children saw it,
and saw Smith put liis Eskimo dogs through
their paces.

It would be possible to keep on writing al-
most indefinitely of similar incidents concern-
ing the home hfe of President Roosevelt in
the White House. But enough has been said,
I think, to give the reader some idea of his
many-sided personality, and his manner of
facing the problems, great and small, that con-
stantly came up for attention.

All of us who were employed in the Execu-
tive Office during his presidency worked
hard, perhaps harder than under any other
President in fifty years ; but every man of us
knew that Mr. Roosevelt worked harder than
we did; that he knew what each of us was
doing, and that he appreciated to the full our
efforts to aid him in transacting the business
of the government. And he was kindness

PRESIDENT AND MRS. ROOSEVELT 307

itself to us. On each New Year's Day, for
example, when I went to pay my respects, he
would " see me first," as the boys say, meet me
halfway across the room with outstretched
hand, and exclaim ;

" Happy New Year, Comrade! Giood
luck to you and yours!"

He had always called me " Comrade " —
from the first time he noticed the bronze Grand
Army button in my lapel.

On the morning of March 3, 1909, the Presi-
dent spoke his little farewell to his office force.
There was nothing " set " about the few words,
or any special arrangement about the meeting.
He would leave his high position in twenty-
four hours, when President-elect Taft would
succeed him; so he came out into the office
quite informally, and we stood up, of course,
as he appeared. Then, with a kindly, cordial
smile, which for a moment rested on each man
of us, he said :

" Gentlemen, I want to express my very ear-
nest and hearty appreciation of the services that
you have rendered. We have been associated
now for nearly eight years, and there has never.

SOS MEMORIES OF THE WHJTE HOUSE

at any time, been any demand made upon you
to which you have not responded in the hearti-
est and most generous fashion. I have often
thought," he added, with a twinkle in his eyes,
" you would ha\'e been warranted m getting
up a conspiracy to murder rae, for the way I
have worked you. And, " he continued, again
becoming serious. " I do wish you to under-
stand that I have grovpn to feel a spirit of the
closest and most genuine companionsliip and
comradeship with you. I felt that you and I
were working for a conunon end, and I have
appreciated very deeply the work you have
done. I do not wish to Iea\'e the office without
having the pleasure of shaking hands with each
of you, individually."

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Full text of "Memories of the White House : the home life of our presidents from Lincoln to Roosevelt"

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